Death's Mercy
by amyownfie
Summary: Before her end could come, Hermione was sent back in time to exist as someone else, someone new. She knows what she has to do, but actually destroying Voldemort will be much harder that it sounded
1. Chapter 1

Hermione was certain that this would be her end, left to the mercy of death eaters, which would be non-existent. Maybe they would let her live if she was a pureblood, but muggleborns had no place in their world. An ironic world where the son of a muggle was their leader. It wasn't worth being sad about, after all, she wasn't the one in control.

If only Harry had won.

"Hermione." A voice whispered from outside her cell. A white blond boy stood with her beaded bag and wand in hand, a sad look on his face. "You have to stop them."

"How?" Hermione asked, rushing forward to feel his skin under her fingertips. "You know the prophecy. It's all over."

"Snape found a way to send you back." Draco whispered, reaching past the bars to cup Hermione's face. He thrust the wand and bag into her hands, a tear falling down his face. "Go live in a world where you can be happy. Back before any of this started."

"In a world without you?" She asked, tears falling down her cheeks. "I can't do that." She breathed, her heart breaking.

"Neither can I." Draco admitted, his voice cracking.

"I love you." Hermione panted, her voice desperate. She pressed a kiss to his lips through the bars, not holding anything back. This could, and most likely would, be the first and last time she could tell Draco she loved him. "I love you."

"I love you too Maia." He spoke, his voice barely a whisper.

With a swift flick of his wand, Hermione felt herself being wrenched from the cell, pulled away from Draco who was duelling with a group of death eaters.

"No." Hermione yelled as Draco's body fell in a flash of green light. The world turning black.

CHAPTER 1

Hermione had only been allowed out of the hospital wing several weeks after she had arrived unexpectedly in the past, though she was only awake for a few days of it. Her assumed name had been easily chosen, Maia Germain, although she knew that she would have trouble keeping her appearance as unassuming as possible in the event that she could not change the timeline as she had been instructed to do so by Draco Malfoy, who had been the one to send her back. Professor Dumbledore gladly handed over a very interesting book on transfiguration to aid her in subtly changing her appearance so that she would only seem like a distant relative of her future self and not a clone. She subdued her unruly mess of hair into soft silky auburn locks before growing it out so that it sat an inch or two past her waist. Her eye colour was changed to a deep indigo, a suggestion made by the old wizard. If she had one feature that stood out above all else, the rest of her appearance may fade from people's memories. Other than a subtle change in her cheekbones and jawline, she remained unaltered, glad for the permanence of the spells she had used to do so, though they weren't exactly legal to perform, sitting in the grey area between approved and forbidden.

She quickly found herself being sorted into Gryffindor and informed that she would not be sharing a dormitory with the sixth year students but would be supplied her own room so that her abundance of scars would not cause any problems. She had been offered for them to be removed with a wave of a wand but she quickly disagreed. They weren't normal scars but inflicted with many different dark curses. Her skin would be marred for the rest of her life and there was no way to remove them, even simple and complex glamours alike having no effect on them.

And so she found herself stood in Dumbledore's office, her affairs in order and her new identity perfectly crafted. But there was still one last thing Dumbledore requested of her.

"Miss Germain, there is a ritual, considered rather dark and unknown by the ministry however I believe that it will lend perfectly to our advantage." He pulled a letter from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Maia, a rather apprehensive look on his face. It was short, aggravatingly so.

 _Professor Dumbledore,_

 _Though you have no reason to do as I ask, I would request of you to procure a vial of blood from a pureblood male and a forest nymph female and keep them until the time is right. A ritual will need to be performed and you will know when the time is right to perform it._

 _I trust that you will soon realise just how far this letter has travelled to be in your possession. Please take that knowledge as certainty that this is of the utmost importance._

 _A well-wisher._

"I received this letter many years ago, and after studying it learnt that it came from many years in the future." Dumbledore explained, the knowing twinkling in his eyes emerging. "I believe that this letter was sent for me to prepare for your arrival."

Maia simply nodded, not tearing her eyes away from the all too familiar handwriting of an older Professor Snape. Clearly Dumbledore hadn't realised who the letter had come from but it could only be a good thing. If he knew who it was from, especially while the sender was studying the dark arts, he may have never believed that he was truly going to help.

"What ritual is it that you need me to do?" Maia asked, folding the letter and handing it back to the ageing professor.

"A blood ritual, that will change your magical core and possibly certain aspects of your appearance, though it will not render your spellwork needless." He explained. "It will make you, for all intents and purposes the child of a pureblood and a nymph. Your appearance will only change because your blood will change."

"It would erase all signs of me being a muggleborn?" She asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Indeed it will, but I will not force you into this. The other changes were necessary; however, this will only solidify what we have done so far." He spoke, awaiting Maia's response.

She thought it over for several minutes, debating the thought of removing her parents from her very existence. She would not share their blood, and she now barely shared their features. She would be turning her back on everything she had known for the last seventeen years. But if Professor Snape sent this letter, who she had recently discovered was not in fact a death eater but had orchestrated the plan to send her back, then he would have not sent such a letter back in time on a whim. The amount of magic that it would take to accomplish such a thing and the energy that it would drain would not have been worth simply a further precaution. It was something he believed was necessary for her survival in a foreign time. Despite their hostile past, he had done something she would have believed impossible and so she placed her whole trust in the man. A man that had devoted his life to keeping Harry safe, and in the process keeping her safe too. This was the man that had used a counter curse during Harry's first quidditch game and the man that had stood between her and a werewolf.

"I'll do it Professor." Maia agreed, finally breaking the silence in the room.

"Very well." The professor smiled. He procured a wooden box from the back of his office and a rather thick and weathered tome before leading her through the castle, onto the grounds and deep into the forbidden forest, not at all worried by the existence of many dangerous creatures that called the forest home. Though if she were as powerful a wizard as Albus Dumbledore then she wouldn't be too worried either. They eventually reached an old ruin, covered in vines and moss and many white budding flowers. It was a large circle of pillars, some of which had crumbled away leaving some of them more stumps than pillars. He tenderly placed the box on the ground and removed the contents. A silver bowl with a ring of runes carved delicately around the outer rim. A dagger made of the same metal, carrying the same runes. Three vials, one filled with a silvery liquid and two filled with blood. Several different herbs and a red feather. It was all rather curious but she knew that it was integral to the ritual he had mentioned.

Maia walked closer to inspect the ingredients. The feather was that of a Phoenix, most likely Fawkes who had been sleeping on his perch during their meeting. The silvery liquid could be anything but quite possibly contained unicorn blood or maybe some hairs, there were few other things she could think of that would make a liquid that colour, and most could not be used in a potion. She could not identify the herbs as they were ground and contained in small jars. The runes of the bowl and dagger were just as foreign to her, possibly not the runes she had been taught in her own time but a long forgotten language that had faded from memory.

Dumbledore placed the feather into the bowl, waving his wand over it while muttering a long incantation that he read from the tome. He next poured the vials of blood over the feather, speaking a different incantation and performing a different complex wand movement. The herbs were added next, one scent notified Maia that one of the ingredients was bergamot, though the others remained a mystery. Another incantation was cast, the silver liquid was added and another incantation was spoken.

"Miss Germain." Dumbledore beckoned, the silver dagger in his hand. Maia unquestioningly walked over and kneeled on the other side of the bowl from the professor. He took her right hand and made a deep cut across her palm and then submerged it into the bowl. Expecting pain, Maia bit her lip as she did so but was surprised by the soothing warmth that met her wound. Dumbledore performed a long spell and another complicated wand movement which he repeated over and over, though Maia could not know how long.

She felt the warmth spread up her arm and through the rest of her body. What was once soothing quickly became a sharp heat that began to burn her from the inside. It was like she was under the cruciatus curse again and she didn't try to hold back the intense scream that ripped from her throat. Slowly, the burning began to cool into a cold freezing sensation. It was strange, being able to feel her blood change. Her skin began to feel cold as she noticed a slight green hue take to her skin, though this was not a temporary product of the ritual. This would be permanent.

When the ritual was finally over, Maia removed her hand from the bowl only to note that she was no longer cold and her cut hand was perfectly healed, not even a scar or a red irritation on her skin.

"I was not expecting such a drastic change." Dumbledore admitted, noting Maia's skin. It was the only thing that had changed, though she knew that it would suit her new eye and hair colour beautifully. It was not an obvious green but a subtle colour that would not go unnoticed but not look too out of place among her classmates.

"Thank you professor." Maia smiled, trying to hold in the need to cry, the shock of all that had happened since the few hours she had been awake was finally sinking in. It was cold out but the residual effects of the ritual still seemed to warm her.

"The other students will be arriving soon." Dumbledore spoke, waving his wand over the bowl, leaving behind only a pristine silvery shine and the dagger, all traces of what they had done washing away. All traces of the very illegal thing they had done. "I will announce your arrival at dinner." He spoke, leading Maia out of the forbidden forest and back into the castle.

"We never decided, what's my cover for being in a coma for so long?" She asked, remembering that one crucial detail.

"As a forest nymph, your magic will have been tied to a tree that was planted the day you were born." Dumbledore began, clearly thinking as he spoke. "Your wizarding blood saved you from dying when your home was burnt down and your tree along with it. Your mother was less fortunate and your father had perished as well." He pulled the door open and led Maia to an antechamber off of the great hall that faced the side of the professors table. "You were found unconscious and were due to attend Hogwarts if your home schooling was unfinished before the death of your parents. With no other family to care for you or to pay for the care you would need at st mungo's I allowed you to be treated in the hospital wing, just as any other student would be."

Maia simply nodded, taking a seat on a spiral staircase that led up and away from the chamber.

"You should only need to wait here for a few minutes, the students are already entering the hall." He smiled, turning and leaving Maia to listen to the faint murmuring and laughing of the returning students.

Just as promised, Dumbledore began to address the hall after a few short minutes.

"As most of you will know, we have been treating a young woman in the hospital wing for several weeks now, and she has finally regained the strength to begin her studies." She heard his voice, the door swinging open.

Maia walked through and glanced across the tables, trying to look as unassuming and calm as possible, though it was hard when all she could hear was the

murmuring about her appearance. Her green hue being the most abundant topic of discussion.

"I trust that you will all help her adjust to her new situation." He smiled, putting a stop to the whispering. Only a small group of students seemed to still be whispering, though Maia had expected this, having been made aware that a certain group had seen her in the hospital wing and had taken to finding out all they could about her. "Miss Maia Germain will be joining Gryffindor house for the remaining two years of her studies."

With that, Maia quickly paced over to a free seat at the Gryffindor table, which just so happened to be with the four boys who had continued to murmur after the rest of the hall went silent.

"So, miss Germain," a black haired boy smiled, clearly thinking that he was being suave in his approach. "What brings you to Hogwarts?" No, Sirius black was not as talented at charming women as he was in the future.

Maia simply laughed, earning strange looks from the people immediately around them. "Does that usually work?" She asked, managing to suppress her laughter.

The boy simply stared at her, clearly it did.

"I'm at Hogwarts for the same reason everyone is." She shrugged. "Unless you're not here to learn about magic."

"Ignore my friend, he's not very subtle." Another boy smiled. James Potter, a face very similar to that of her best friend, though he did not look as similar to his father as people claimed. His hair was just as unruly and he shared an almost identical pair of glasses but that was where the exact match to Harry's appearance ended. There was something about his nose and his chin that reminded her of Harry, but a lot more of him must have come from his mother than just his eyes and his temperament.

"That's quite alright." Maia smiled lightly, feeling a little too shy to put any food on her plate. She simply took an apple from a small basket and took as small bites as she could, amazed by her change in taste buds. It must have been the nymph side to her new heritage, as they were rarely known to eat meat other than on very sacred occasions. She didn't mind avoiding it, as the smell seemed different than it did before she travelled back, it wasn't nearly as appealing as it had formerly been.

"Why are you green?" A small pudgy boy asked in a quiet voice. This was Peter Pettigrew, the man who betrayed his friends, the man who sold his soul to Voldemort.

"My mother was a forest nymph." Maia explained, trying to keep her voice as even as possible, which clearly worked.

"Was?" He repeated, his voice growing louder.

Maia winced, though not for the reason his friends must have assumed. She simply hadn't wanted half of the great hall to suddenly stop their conversations to listen to her. "There was a fire." She said simply, staring down at the apple in her hand.

"Oh." Peter spoke simply, physically drawing back as her words sunk in. At least this Peter knew how to feel more than a hunger for power and a crippling fear of his master. Perhaps there was hope for him.

"I'm sorry." A sandy haired boy frowned, placing a hand on Maia's shoulder. Remus Lupin, ever the compassionate man she remembered.

"You know my name but I don't know yours." Maia deflected, wanting the attention to be turned away from her. If she knew anything about Sirius Black, then he would jump at the chance to talk about himself.

"I'm Sirius Black, the most handsome one and the smartest of all the marauders." He grinned, puffing his chest out. "This is Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and James Potter." He pointed to each of the boys as he spoke. "They hang on to me for dear life, knowing that they couldn't possibly make it through their studies without me to guide them."

Remus rolled his eyes. "To guide us into detention is more like it." He laughed.

Her diversion had worked, the hall returned to their meals and earlier conversations.

"Ignore Black, he hasn't many brain cells." A girl's voice cut through. She had beautiful ginger hair and piercing green eyes. "I'm Lily Evans." She extended her hand to Maia, which Maia shook with a small smile.

"Typical Lily." James smiled adoringly. "Ever more of a gentleman than we will ever be."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Lily frowned, clearly displeased with the boy's choice of words.

James simply beamed, as if he had caught the snitch forty feet in the air without a broom.

Dinner continued on, with the group sharing their knowledge of the castle with Maia, though she didn't need it. They also shed some light on the 'cursed' defence against the dark arts position and their long string of slightly inadequate teachers.

"Maybe you should teach someday Remus." James grinned through a large spoon of mashed potatoes. "You'd never be affected by the curse."

Maia grinned knowingly. Her Professor Lupin had most certainly left at the conclusion of his first and only year of teaching.

"You're very curious." Lily spoke, turning her attention back to Maia, who had only eaten an apple during the half hour they had been talking. "Your diet must be similar to that of a full blooded nymph."

Maia shrugged. She had attempted to eat a steamed carrot but had immediately ruled out that as an option for her meal, the taste and texture being utterly repulsive. "I guess I'm just used to fresh fruit and nuts." She silently thanked every god there was that she had read several books about forest nymphs over the years.

They didn't ask her any more questions after that, instead drilling Lily about what she knew of nymphs, Maia simply had to nod or shake her head to confirm Lily's words.

Dinner quickly ended and the group led Hermione up to the Gryffindor tower, where she hesitated to divulge the existence of her private room, the door to which did not rest atop the spiral staircase.

"I'd like to look out of the window a little longer." She'd smiled politely when Lily spoke of going up to bed. She had left Maia to her thoughts and gave her directions to the dormitory.

After everyone had cleared out of the common room, Maia made her way over to the portrait of a lion which was hung above the fire. "Temps oublié." She whispered and made her way over to a slightly shimmering stretch of tapestry before walking through it. It was much like the barrier at King's Cross station.

The room inside was rather inviting, with the Gryffindor colour scheme absent. A dusty forest green set of curtains, dark mahogany wood and a light cream paint erased all signs that she was in the Gryffindor tower, which didn't bother Maia at all. The sheets were the same forest green as the curtains as was the plush armchair that sat next to a fireplace and a window that overlooked the forbidden forest. It seemed that the castle had given her the most perfect space in which she could forget about her past and her mission in 1976.

She noticed two fabric backpacks and a letter addressed to Maia Germain at the foot of her double bed. Inside the bags was an assortment of clothing that she recognised as worn by many nymphs. Light, rather revealing and decorated with vines, plants and other adornments. They must have been supplied for her cover. She also found a selection of books on wandless magic for magical creatures and all of those that she would need for her lessons.

She opened the letter to find a simple message from Dumbledore explaining that she would need to dress as a nymph would during weekends so as to solidify her cover. It also contained a wish for good luck as she began her studies. Luckily for Dumbledore, it was a Friday so she would begin to wear her clothing upon waking in the morning.

Maia changed out of the uniform Dumbledore had supplied her with and pulled on Draco's old quidditch shirt, which had been in her beaded bag, an item she was most glad for having. It reminded her of the nights they would spend curled up together in the room of requirement, whispering promises of love to each other into the early hours of the morning. During her sixth year, Draco had been her rock and she had been his confidant. She never judged him for his impossible task and he never lied and never held anything back. The time she sent with him had seemed like a scene in a book, perfect and utterly unforgettable. As she breathed in his scent, she began to feel homesick, wishing he was with her to keep her from falling to pieces as she did what many had called the impossible. To change the course of time completely.

Maia cried and cried, curled up atop her new bed, it being a perfect replica of the one the room of requirement had supplied. She didn't want to sleep under the covers, knowing that when she'd wake, Draco wouldn't be there dropping lazy kisses across her skin. She was finally dragged into a fitful sleep, though it was sleep nonetheless.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Maia woke early the next morning, her sheets slightly damp from her tears. When she finally felt the strength to lift herself from the bed, she didn't bother to carefully assess her appearance, simply pulling off her shirt and underwear, changing them for fresh undergarments and a soft fabric dress she had assigned as weekend wear.

She pulled on a pair of sandals and stepped out into the common room, doing several spells as she did so, leaving her teeth and hair perfectly brushed and her skin clean. She noted the slight earthy fragrance that lingered on her skin, like the musky air of late summer. She clutched a spell entitled 'the mind boggling magic of nymphs'. It was rather thick but she only needed the section on forest nymphs. A quick wave of her wand disguised the book as Hogwarts a history, something she had been doing for years. Nobody was ever interested to read the words written in such a seemingly harmless book.

The sun quickly rose, warming Maia as she sat perched on the windowsill, consumed in the knowledge contained within her book. It appeared that with some practise, nymphs could perform wandless and wordless magic with as much ease as it took to breathe. A short paragraph mentioned that half nymphs could achieve such a feat with great practise but still required a wand to perform spells initially. The rest of the theory was the same as any other type of magic for witches and wizards. Maia took the opportunity to practise a spell that would weave strands of her hair into intricate braids that would circle her head like a halo, producing several blooms that wound themselves into the pattern. She achieved her goal on the first try, not touching her wand or saying a word, finding her hair dotted with small white blossoms. She memorised the other variations of the spell that would result in different colour blooms and different braids. It seemed like nymph magic was based more on intentions than incantations and wand movements. Maia felt a slight giddiness wash over her. She had never felt more attuned to her magic.

She spent her weekends reading the many books she had been supplied in the company of the marauders, though she assumed they were sitting with her to be polite, though a light friendliness grew between them.

Several weeks passed by with Maia following the same routine, lessons, lunch and memorising very detail of her new heritage. Her teachers were astonished by the potential they saw in her, praising her at every opportunity. It was only early one morning that she finally reached a point that she could do every piece of magic she had ever learned without a wand. It was monumentus for her. She had always dreamed of being this powerful, but she had never thought the day would come. Her relationship with the marauders had started off well, though she knew they were holding back on her. It hadn't surprised her, though her new magic could sense the animalistic aura of the quartet that would have given them away even without her knowledge.

One Saturday morning, dressed in the clothes of her people, she finally reached a point where she couldn't hide her knowledge from them.

"Maia?" A group of voices spoke, clearly confused by what they were seeing. Maybe it was the short dress with holes in the sides showing off her waist.

"Good morning boys." She grinned, noting the full moon in the sky and the scratch on James' face. "Where did you run off to last night?" She grinned, trying as hard as she could to keep it as un-smirk-like as possible. Though it was hard to keep it contained, given the length of time she had spent with Draco she had picked up his smirk beautifully.

"Just went for a walk." James spoke, not doing a very good job at covering their tracks.

What had her books said, that nymphs could sense other magical creatures, and Remus had felt rather wolffish as she sat next to him. She could feel a small radiance off of the boys, mirroring their animagus forms.

"Do be a dear James and don't lie to me." Maia smiled sweetly, walking over to him to place a kiss on his cheek. "Though your attempt was very cute." And that it was.

"And where is it you think we went?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Did you forget something that Lily spoke about a few weeks ago?" Maia grinned innocently, clearly driving the boys insane.

"No." James shook his head, clearly believing he remembered every word that ever left Lily's lips.

"Why don't you borrow this book?" She smiled, handing over the book she had been reading. His answer would be in there. A glance at the clock told her it was seven thirty, the perfect time for her to make an exit. And she did just that, skipping past the boys, twirling her wand in her fingers.

She moved through the familiar halls, making her way toward one of her favourite safe havens, the astronomy tower. She used to meet Draco up there, showing her the constellations and the stories that lay behind the black family names. It was easy to lose herself in the view, the trees in the distance seeming to calm her, even in her very soul.

"Avis." Maia whispered, watching several small birds appear out of thin air. They fluttered around her, whistling simple tunes into the morning air.

"Oh." A foreign voice spoke, Maia wondered how many times a meeting like this would happen today. She turned to see a face she didn't recognise, though the green on his quidditch robes only made it clear that she wouldn't know him.

"Good morning." Maia smiled, directing her attention back to the trees below.

"You're the new girl right." He asked, appearing at her side, mesmerised by her birds.

"Maia." She smiled, turning to look once more at her new companion.

"I'm Regulus." The boy smiled.

Maia's breath caught in her throat. This was R.A.B, the boy who would die in a few short years. He looked far too innocent to be a death eater. She wondered what his future would have held to send him to Voldemort's side. "Nice to meet you Regulus." Hermione smiled, trying to keep the sad frown that threatened to break contained.

"How'd you find the astronomy tower?" He asked.

"I got turned around on the stairs." Maia quickly fabricated. "I was looking for the library."

Regulus simply nodded. "First few weeks in the castle, I'm not surprised you got lost."

"What's that tree?" She asked, pointing to the whomping willow. It was like it was calling out to her. A kindred spirit finding itself in a place it didn't feel like it belonged.

"The whomping willow. It's pretty dangerous if you get too close." Regulus explained. There was something off about him, something dark hiding behind the pure facade. He left her atop the tower, leaving her in peace.

A strange fog clouded Maia's mind, pulling all of her happiness away, though there wasn't very much within her.

She had abandoned her friends to an unknown fate, they could be dead for all she knew. Especially if she failed. They were lost to her, on the other side of an impassable veil.

One step over the rail and her pain would be gone. The sadness that clouded her heart would fall away. She could see them all again, she could find herself in Draco's arms once more.

The world seemed to move slowly as she made her way over the rail, her hands refusing to let go as she leaned over the air below her.

"Maia!" She heard a voice scream, though it didn't break through the fog. It was just an echo that brushed past her ears.

"Just let go." She whispered, easing one of her hands off of the rail, though the other one wouldn't respond. "You can be with them again." She reasoned, letting go and falling from the tower, everything turning black.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Turn back Hermione." A voice whispered in the darkness. "You can't leave yet." The voice was foreign but comforting. It seemed to overpower the darkness that wanted to drag her down.

Maia woke in the hospital wing, a concerned face hovering in her vision.

"She's awake Madam Pomfrey." A younger woman walked over to her bedside, though there were some flecks of grey in her hair.

"What on earth possessed you to hurl yourself from the castle?" She shrieked, handing Maia potion after potion.

"I don't know." Maia frowned, not remembering much after she met Regulus. "I was talking with another student and then there's nothing."

"Could this be the product of dark magic?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, her eyes suddenly panicked.

"No dark magic can force someone to kill themselves." Dumbledore shook his head, though his eyes said something different when he glanced at Maia. "As soon as she's okay to leave, please send her to my office."

"Professor!" Another voice yelled, the same one that had echoed in Maia's sleep. A redheaded girl ran in. Lily. She hadn't spoken to Lily much since her first day, but she seemed strangely concerned. "How is she? Do you know what happened?"

Dumbledore simply smiled at her, shaking his head. "Miss Germain had just woken."

"Thank goodness." Lily gushed, sprinting to Maia's side. "I saw you fall, I thought something terrible had happened to you."

"Saw me fall?" Maia asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

"You don't remember?" Lily asked, her worry increasing. "Severus had to use arresto momentum to stop you from hitting the ground."

"Oh." Maia spoke, the odd words Professor Dumbledore had spoken starting to make a little more sense. "I should really thank him." She smiled. Severus Snape was still the man she knew from the future.

"You can meet him once they let you out of the hospital wing." Lily smiled, placing a hand on Maia's.

"I'd like to run a few diagnostics on Miss Germain before we let her out of bed." Madam Pomfrey reminded them, shooing the ginger girl out of the hospital wing.

The minutes Maia spent waiting for Madam Pomfrey's verdict felt like hours. She needed to see Dumbledore as soon as possible to make sense of the gap in her memory.

"You're free to go Miss Germain, as long as you don't get to close to any windows." The woman frowned, pulling a curtain around the bed, allowing Maia to dress herself and perform a few cleaning charms in privacy.

Just as she pulled the hospital gown off, she heard a strangling sound, cut short with a quiet slap of skin on skin. Someone was watching her and she didn't appreciate it, especially considering that she only had a thin pair of underpants on. She scowled but pulled on her dress, muttering some charms to clean her skin and to pull her hair into a ponytail, a few intricate braids sprouting small blue and purple flowers as they were pulled up with the rest of her hair. She was rather pleased with herself, especially given the speed she had executed it with.

She picked up her wand and prepared to leave before a muffled cough reminded her of the unseen presence watching her. She couldn't see them, but the subtle push of a dog like aura told her everything she needed to know.

Maia performed a wandless and wordless accio, revealing a rather sheepish James Potter with a hand over his eyes and another over Sirius Black's mouth. The latter looked only shocked that they had been caught.

She narrowed her eyes at the pair before sighing. "At least James had the decency not to look." She grumbled, plucking her wand from the bedside table. "I won't hex you James." She spoke sweetly, watching as the boy removed the hand from over his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. "Sirius on the other hand will accompany me for a walk around the grounds."

Sirius looked slightly alarmed by this, even more so when James muttered a thank you to Maia before sprinting from the room.

"Come along Sirius." Maia smiled innocently, looping an arm through Sirius' to drag him out of the hospital wing. As an afterthought, she silently placed an undetectable extension charm on the boy's pocket to stuff the invisibility cloak in before neatly placing her wand through her hair.

Sirius was silent as she led him across the wooden bridge and down toward the tree line, only turning at the last minute toward the whomping willow. "That tree's very dangerous Maia." He warned her. They were a few metres from the branches' reach, though it would usually have made an effort to hit them nonetheless.

"He's perfectly safe." Maia disagreed, applying a sticking charm to sirius' shoes so that the couldn't run away. She unlinked their arms and paced closer to the tree, stroking a branch as it reached down to meet her. "He's only doing his job."

"And what job would that be?" Sirius asked. He was far better at keeping secrets than James was.

"To make sure that none of the students wander down the tunnel below into the jaws of a werewolf." She spoke, as if it were common knowledge to all.

"There's a werewolf near the school?" Sirius attempted to gasp. Ah well, Maia thought, maybe he wasn't such a good liar.

"Oh yes." Mia nodded. "But it's perfectly safe, he's still reassuring me that there's nothing to worry about." She smiled, resting her cheek in the tree branch as she wrapped both arms around it. "He has some interesting things to say about you." She spoke gleefully, knowing full well that the willow was already aware of her knowledge, though he was encouraging her on her deception.

"He?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. He." Maia spoke plainly. "This beautiful willow." She spoke, a genuine glee filling her voice. The pull toward the tree was almost impossible to resist and it filled her with more joy than she had thought was possible.

"You're talking to a tree?" Sirius asked skeptically, failing to take a step away from her. He frowned down at his feet, perplexed at why they wouldn't move.

"That would be a sticking charm." Maia supplied giggling. "It's not permanent but a little variation I made. You won't be able to remove it."

He tried pulling off his shoes. But that didn't work either.

"I applied it to your socks too." She practically sang, stroking the whomping willow's branch.

"You're one hell of a witch." Sirius growled, giving up on freeing himself. He dropped himself down in the grass, huffing as he did so.

"I'm only half witch." Maia reminded him. "Though one could argue that I'm simply a nymph considering it is the prominent half of my heritage."

"Do share what the willow has to say about me Miss Germain." He muttered sarcastically, falling into his back rather dramatically.

"Well." Maia began, taking far too much pleasure in Sirius' suffering. She made her way to the trunk and began to nimbly climb the branches of her new favourite tree. "He tells me that you sneak past him to follow a certain werewolf every full moon. Your other friends join you too, how interesting." She spoke, not bothering to hide the fact that she was simply waving this information in his face.

"So you want to blackmail me?" Sirius asked, completely surrendering himself to the situation, keeping his gaze on the sky.

"No." Maia replied, looking down at Sirius from the edge of a branch that the willow had expended out for her. She felt strangely safe despite the fact that she was perched on a rather thin branch, even daring to rock back and forward slightly, swinging her legs. "I want you boys to stop lying to me." She tapped the branch and it lowered her to the ground not too far from Sirius. "Have you read that book I gave you yet?"

"No." Sirius groaned, covering his eyes with an arm.

"The spell will wear off in about an hour." Maia smirked, patting Sirius' shoulder before walking away, waving goodbye to her new best friend, the whomping willow.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

When Maia made it up to the common room a trio of marauders were awaiting her with very displeased looks on their faces.

"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked, the calmest of the three.

Maia smiled sweetly. "He's currently caught up in a sticking charm I invented." It was clear that the boy's weren't satisfied with her answer. "He'll be free in an hour. And if you don't lie to me when I ask you this next question then I will lead you to where he is and give you the counter charm."

Remus tried to look upset but the whisper of a smile gave him away. James and Peter were firmly affixed in the unapproving stance. "What's the question?" He asked, clearly not anticipating her following words.

"Why are you trying to hide the fact that you're a werewolf from the one person that has known since the second I entered the great hall?" Maia asked, folding her arms across her chest.

The boys looked shocked, more than shocked to be exact. Remus looked like he wasn't breathing.

"And before you go into the whole 'I wasn't sure if you'd accept me' speech, I'd like to remind you that I have the blood of a magical creature pumping through my veins." She continued. "Out of everyone in this school, I'm the least likely to ostracise you for it."

Remus stammered, looking between Maia and James.

"Don't look at me." James defended, raising his hands in the air. "I didn't tell her anything."

"He didn't need to." Maia pointed out, walking closer to Remus, placing a hand on his chest. The ebb and flow of his magic stronger when she was in physical contact with him. "I can feel the lycanthrope blood in your veins, it calls out to my magic." She explained, frowning slightly. "Of all people, you should have remembered Lily mentioning that during that first dinner."

Remus looked rather sheepish. "I'm not used to people trusting me." He muttered, thinking that it wasn't a suitable answer. "I'm not used to being around people like me." He explained. "People with the blood of magical creatures."

"That's okay." Maia smiled, placing a kiss on Remus' cheek. "I'll show you three where Sirius is." She smiled, leading them out of the portrait hole.

By the time they reached the bridge they could hear Sirius calling out to the air, though a deep grunt afterward let them know that someone else was there.

"You're going to rip my bloody legs off!" He yelled, letting out a low whine. Maia couldn't help but laugh.

"Whoever did this was very clever." A gruff booming voice spoke between grunts.

In the distance, she could see the whomping willow thrashing about, clearly not enjoying the company of the animagus glued to the grass. As they neared, she could see it calming down, raising a branch to wave at Maia.

"The hell." James swore under his breath, glancing between Maia and the usually vicious tree.

"You're friends pulled through Sirius." Maia called, grinning at the sight of Hagrid squatting down, trying to pull Sirius out of his predicament. "I've returned to free you."

Sirius turned his head and sighed in relief, glad that Hagrid finally put him down. "What took you so bloody long?" He demanded. "I could have been here forever."

"I told you when it would wear off." Maia shrugged, muttering the counter charm under her breath. Sirius was finally released and he seemed to be rather enjoying his new freedom, running in large circles on the grass before collapsing and rolling around in the frosty grass.

"So, you did this?" Hagrid enquired, frowning at her.

"He watched me get changed in the hospital wing." Maia shrugged, pulling Sirius to his feet. "Besides, he wasn't stuck permanently and I knew that his friends would secure his freedom before the spell wore off."

"Huh." Hagrid grunted, returning to his hut while muttering to himself.

"I guess he doesn't like me." Maia shrugged. She skipped with unrivalled enthusiasm to the whomping willow, wrapping her arms around the trunk, or as much as she should given that it was far too wide for her hands to encircle it completely.

"That tree's dangerous." Peter called after her in a squeaky voice, too scared to step closer.

"It's her 'friend'." Sirius rolled his eyes, grunting as he did so. "The bloody thing spilled to her all of our secrets."

Maia giggled at this climbing into one of the lower branches. "In his defence, I knew before he told me." She grinned, allowing the joy to fill her up again. She wondered if this was true for all trees or just the whomping willow.

 _I'm your bonded tree._ The thought echoed through her mind. _The ritual required a tree to bond with and my leaves were used._ Maia grinned even wider. Her bond with the willow was something special, something she would be able to cherish more.

"Can you come down? I think Peter's going to have a heart attack." Remus called up to Maia, a wide grin on his face.

"He's my bonded tree." Maia shrugged, editing her cover story a little to include this new information. "My old tree was burned down and I went into a coma. Having a tree to bond with again helped sustain me and supplement my magic until it could cultivate once more and I could wake up."

Remus nodded but the other boys looked confused.

"He won't hurt me and I won't hurt him." Maia shook her head, laying back in the branches. "We can't. It's our nature."

"Miss Germain." A familiar voice called from the distance. It was Dumbledore. "I would like to discuss something with you."

The boys took that as their opportunity to leave, glad to have as much distance between the whomping willow and themselves as possible.

"May we remain outside to discuss it?" She requested, dropping elegantly from the branches. "We're just starting to get acquainted." She smiled, trying to reel in her giddiness.

"That would be acceptable." The old man smiled, moving over to Maia. The willow manoeuvred a branch so that the pair could sit more comfortably than they would in the ground or standing. "It is quite an extraordinary thing to watch a nymph bonded to a magical tree." Dumbledore smiled, taking a seat on the offered branch.

"I assume that this has something to do with my being in the hospital wing?" Maia asked, leaning back into the curve of the branch.

"Indeed it is." Dumbledore confirmed, a somber look clouding his expression. "I fear that our ritual has left you exposed to dark magic."

"It wasn't dark magic." Maia blurted, not knowing quite where the words came from. She tried to think over how she knew this but couldn't conjure even a theory.

Dumbledore nodded, musing over the idea. "I suppose that if you were created through dark magic then maybe you might have a certain immunity to it."

Maia tried to follow the thought but only found herself thinking of branches, leaves and the breeze. Her beautiful tree had supplied her with an answer, one that she was very glad for. "I'll do some research." She determined, slipping into a deep thoughtfulness.

She didn't know how long she had been thinking over her theories, only that her newest theory pulled her out of her musings to see the sun had already set. She was glad to have spent the day in her tree's company, especially because it meant that someone could help her think through her theories who wouldn't be an arse about it. Reluctantly, she lifted herself from the branch and headed back up to the common room after bidding the willow goodbye.

She didn't notice the marauders gathered in by the dormitory stairs waiting for her, nor their questions when she spoke the password to her private room and stepped through what appeared to be a solid wall. She simply walked to her room, pulled on Draco's quidditch shirt and fell into a deep sleep, ready to spend the rest of her weekend researching.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Maia woke late the next day and changed into a rather nice yellow dress, with a similar cut to the one she had worn the day before. She pulled on her sandals and packed as many books as she owned into her beaded bag, throwing it over her shoulder and stepping out into the common room.

A glance at the clock told her it was eleven thirty, far too late for breakfast but lunch would begin in ten short minutes. She made her way down to the great hall and sat on the end of the table just as food appeared. She had become used to seeing a small bowl full of nuts appear in front of her as well as a larger bowl containing fruits and vegetables. The elves that worked in the kitchen must have been instructed to do so after her arrival. She wasn't going to complain, however, when everything else on the table made her stomach churn.

She grabbed a perfectly yellow banana and pulled out a book on occlumency before absently reading it as she ate. She had read it several times but wanted to be sure that she remembered every word it contained.

Plainly stated, in the last chapter of the book, was the answer she had been looking for.

 _A truly talented legilimens can observe someone's mind without leaving a trace, however there is a danger to this, as some memories or thoughts can be brought to the forefront of your subject's mind, leaving them there to fester and grow exceedingly stronger. Many have been known to attack the legilimens or someone nearby and, in some rare cases, kill themselves in the process. Great caution is advised when using such a strong and powerful method._

Someone had been nearby who could use legilimency. She had thought that her self taught occlumency would protect her somewhat from attacks like that but it was clear that the ritual had undone all of that work. The only person nearby when she had apparently jumped from the astronomy tower was Regulus, someone she hadn't expected to be as talented as he apparently was. But to deceive Voldemort as expertly as he had in her time should have given her all of the information she needed. The only question left was whether he had intended for her to die, or if it was truly an accident like the book had described.

Maia pulled a piece of parchment from her bag and copied down the paragraph, leaving a small note at the end.

 _That won't work next time. Astronomy tower. 10 o'clock. Know that I won't be caught off guard again._

She folded the parchment and sent it hovering across the hall, landing in front of Regulus. Maia noticed that he went pale upon reading the note, but nodded slightly before folding the parchment up and placing it in his pocket.

Ten o'clock didn't come fast enough for Maia's liking, given that she had to wait for two hours to finally find Regulus waiting at the top of the astronomy tower, a deep frown on his face.

"I'd like to apologise, before you say anything." Regulus blurted as soon as he saw Maia ascending the stairs. "I didn't know you would try to kill yourself and I am truly sorry for that."

Maia decided to turn his trick against him, easily raiding his memories, though she felt no need to be subtle about it. She could feel him trying to push her out, but to no avail. She didn't pay attention to any of the memories she saw, searching for a very specific one, which came rather easily. Voldemort had asked him to find out what he could about her, and he hadn't been too eager to do so.

"I suppose I can't be angry." Maia shrugged, pulling out of Regulus' mind. "But I won't apologise for using Legilimency, there was something I needed to know."

"And what was that." Regulus panted, apparently he didn't enjoy someone looking into his mind.

Maia smiled. "I needed to know if you believe in Voldemort's cause."

"Don't say his name."

"Honestly." Maia laughed. "It's not like I'm using his real name."

Regulus simply swallowed, looking sheepishly at the floor. "You could have just asked me."

"And you could have lied." Maia returned, Draco's smirk sitting beautifully on her face. "But now I will ask you a few questions, and I trust that you won't lie."

Regulus nodded.

"How much did you see?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Everything." He answered. "I know you're not a nymph and that you aren't really Maia Germain. I know where you come from, and what happened there."

"If you know that much then you will know that I am in fact a nymph and that my name is Maia Germain." She rolled her eyes, wishing that Regulus had thought a little more over what he saw. "I may have been a muggleborn once, but a ritual made certain that isn't true anymore."

"What about the fact you're from the future?" Regulus questioned, his slytherin side coming to the surface.

"A future that I have no intention of returning to." Maia commented, her expression falling.

"I was dead there." Regulus spoke, rather tactfully in Maia's opinion.

"Yes you were." Maia nodded. "But you seem perfectly alive to me and I intend for you to stay that way."

"Nobody's ever changed the course of history before." Regulus pointed out.

Maia grinned. "None of those people were me."

Regulus sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Bloody Gryffindors." He sighed, seeming to look rather defeated.

"I am going to change things." Maia spoke, a fire seeming to light within her. "And you're going to help me."

Maia explained everything to Dumbledore, leaving Regulus stood outside the office rather sheepishly. She knew that Dumbledore would fight her bringing Regulus into the loop, but he already knew everything, so he wouldn't be learning anything he didn't already know. In fact, he knew far more than Dumbledore did.

"I trust you Professor, but you need to trust me." Maia spoke, not backing down from the aged man. "Regulus is very important to the timeline and I need him to help me."

Dumbledore sighed, finally giving in. "Bring him in." He spoke, moving to sit back in his chair, leaning back weakly. Maia had never seen Dumbledore like that, and she would be lying if she didn't admit that she was rather proud of herself for breaking down a supposedly undefeatable man.

Maia pulled the door open and nodded to Regulus, watching as he walked up to the headmaster's desk, clearly worrying about what the headmaster had to say.

"Miss Germain has come to your defense and asked that you join us in our endeavour." Dumbledore spoke, leaning forward in his chair, his eye not twinkling like it usually did. "Will you help us?"

Regulus stood silent for several moments, Maia not breathing as she waited for Regulus' answer. "Yes." He spoke finally, causing Maia to release a deep sigh. "I've seen what could happen and I don't think I want that world to exist."

Maia grinned brightly, a giddy feeling rising in her stomach. "It won't." She reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Not if we have a say in it."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Several weeks passed by and Maia found it much harder to keep her secret from the marauders than she thought it would be. They had caught her in the library with Regulus, no thanks to their map, and had begun acting rather strangely with her. It was like they thought she was a death eater, which was utterly ridiculous. If only they knew about her reason for being there, they wouldn't be able to hold that train of thought for more than a few seconds. It would be so easy to tell them but that would open a door to a whole new set of problems. The marauders were notorious gossips, how they managed to keep Remus' lycanthropy a secret for so long was a miracle.

She wouldn't tell them, she decided. Not yet. She'd just come up with a lie, or rather a half-truth, that she could tell them for the time being. They didn't have to know anything about it, just enough to keep their curiosity from running wild.

"Maia." Peter approached her one thursday after charms, he seemed rather scared to be talking to her.

"What's on your mind Peter?" She smiled warmly, hoping to ease some of his worry.

He stuttered for a while before the words finally left his lips. "Sirius doesn't trust you. Because you've been with his brother."

Maia laughed slightly. "We're working on a project for Dumbledore." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure the headmaster chose us for a good reason, though I don't know what it is."

"So you're still our friend." Peter asked, his eyes seeming to light up like a puppy's. The sheer innocence in the boy was startling to her.

"Of course I am." Maia smiled, placing a kiss on Peter's cheek. "And I always will be."

"Good." Peter nodded, wrapping his arms around Maia. "We were worried."

"You don't need to be." Maia smiled, though that part was slightly true. There was a reason that they needed to be worried, it just wasn't her non existent affiliation with Voldemort.

Their relationship got back on track after that, though they asked a million and one questions about what they were doing. She was sworn to secrecy, she had said, giving them a pointed look every time they tried to pry information out of her. That was the one failing of Gryffindors, they weren't quite intelligent enough to know how to ask a question without incurring her wrath, though she kept it under wraps, venting to the willow when they got particularly invasive.

 _They've been invading my personal space for years._ It had told her. _That's not going to change any time soon._

Whenever she wanted the privacy to talk with Regulus, she would do so high in the whomping willow's branches, despite Regulus' initial aversion to the idea. The willow decided it liked Regulus, who was not repulsed by the tree than most were. He also liked that Regulus didn't speak at length about the 'feral' nature of her dear willow, nor did he take to insulting him at length.

"The dark lord has asked mother for the use of our house elf." Regulus updated her one evening, looking rather panicked. "I can't help but worry about what could happen to me. This was how I died, getting the locket from him. What if that happens again?" He whispered, panic evident in his eyes.

"It won't." Maia spoke, rather aggressively, placing a hand on Regulus' arm. "I won't let it. You won't be going in alone, and you know what to expect this time around. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"I didn't realise how young I died in your timeline." He whispered, tears filling his eyes. "I don't know if we can stop it."

"I won't let you think like that." She barked, slightly frantic. "I won't let you anywhere near that cave if I need to." She had a steely look in her eyes that took Regulus aback. "You will not die."

"Thanks Maia." Regulus spoke halfheartedly, dropping down from the willow's branches. "I'll let you know when Kreacher comes back."

 _He has a point._ The willow echoed in her mind. _You can't be sure that he won't die._

"Not you as well." She whined, laying back in the branches.

 _The boy will die one day, no matter whether it is tomorrow or years in the future._

"He's going to survive this war." Maia spoke. "Even if I have to singlehandedly kill every death eater in Riddle's army."

 _I'm sure you will._

Several days later, the letter she was dreading came.

 _Kreacher is back. It's time._

She had been hoping that her being in the past would have made Kreacher fail. Would have made it so that Voldemort hadn't turned Slytherin's locket into a horcrux. But apparently she couldn't be that lucky, so she wrote back, sending a letter to Dumbledore so that he knew where they would disappear to that night.

The marauders could tell that something was wrong, but they were tactful enough not to ask about it. They simply offered to be an ear if she needed one, which she politely declined. She instead spent the rest of the day with the willow, ignoring the classes she was supposed to be attending. The anticipation was far too high.

As the sun set, Regulus approached the willow, Kreacher walking behind him. He didn't look happy with what they were about to do, neither did the house elf who looked terrified.

"This might be goodbye my friend." She whispered to the willow.

 _It won't be._ He reassured her, moving its branches so that she could safely climb down to meet Regulus.

"Are you ready?" She asked Regulus, tension in her voice. He simply nodded, barely able to make eye contact. "And you Kreacher?" She asked, not wanting to subject the elf to the terror he had already experienced. He had to be sure he wanted to help.

"Yes." Kreacher croaked, reaching his arms up to take the pair's hands. With a crack, they were on an island in the middle of a lake, darkness surrounding them.

A quick lumos maxima and the cave was filled with light. It was far more ominous than Harry had described. A decadent bowl sat raised at the centre of the island, a clear liquid containing the dreaded locket.

"One of us has to drink." Maia spoke, staring deeply into the liquid. She had spent far too much time around that particular horcrux. She wasn't looking forward to experiencing that again.

"No, no." Kreacher began screaming. "You sees awful things. Terrible things." He whimpered, grasping to Regulus' leg.

"We could tip it out." Regulus suggested, attempting to soothe the house elf.

"No." Maia shook her head. "I have to drink it."

"No mistress, no." Kreacher wailed.

"Make sure I don't stop." Maia warned Regulus, ignoring the house elf's protests. "And don't go near the water."

Regulus nodded, his skin turning slightly pale as he watched Maia lift a cup of the liquid to her lips.

Maia took a deep breath and began to drink.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Nothing could prepare Maia for what she was about to experience. It was like her mind was on fire as she watched horrific apparitions of her friends, gory and beaten, some dead, float through her vision, taunting her, yelling at her, accusing her for their deaths. She knew she must have been close to draining the bowl because the worst of the images had come.

Draco Malfoy, his clothes ripped and bloody, appeared, his sneer fixed firmly in his expression. "I shouldn't have saved you." He taunted, snarling. "I never loved you."

"No." Maia whined. "Draco, please." She begged.

"I should have let my aunt kill you." He snapped, causing Maia to whimper. "You shouldn't be alive. Maybe Harry would have won if you'd died on my ballroom floor."

"No. No." She screamed, tears streaming down her face as she continued to drink the liquid that found itself at her lips.

She found herself back in Malfoy manner, being tortured for information. She screamed loudly as a foggy voice spoke to her.

"It's the last one." It repeated as more liquid passed her lips.

She began whimpering as Draco stood over her, his wand drawn. She curled up on the ground, allowing herself to be swallowed up by the images around her.

"I hope you won't make near death a habit." A cool voice spoke to her, cutting through the fog in her mind. "You're making my job a lot harder than it needs to be."

Suddenly the images were gone. Maia took a few moments to take in her surroundings, Regulus crouched in front of her, the locket in his hands.

"We did it." Maia sighed, her voice cracked.

"We should get you to the hospital wing." Regulus spoke, nodding to Kreacher. He placed the locket in Maia's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Don't worry. It's over."

Maia let herself be pulled from the cave, landing firmly on the hospital wing floor, a startled Madam Pomfrey began fussing over her the moment she was placed in a bed. Vials after vials of potions were poured down her throat, none of them having an effect on the strange shadow that sat in her mind. She knew that none of them would as she placed the locket around her neck. She was all too familiar with the feeling, despite it still being hard to fight.

She slipped in and out of sleep over the following week, surrendering the locket to Dumbledore when he came to see her.

"Don't destroy it yet." She had warned him. "He'll know."

The marauders had been furious to see her in the hospital wing, demanding to know what Regulus had done to her.

"It was an accident." She had told them repeatedly. "Regulus helped me, he didn't do this."

"You vanished for hours and then turn up like you've been crucioed." Sirius disagreed. "You don't have to defend him. Just tell us what he did."

"He didn't do anything." She screamed, finally reaching the end of her patience. "I told him to make sure I finished the potion and because of it we're one step closer to defeating Voldemort." She knew she had said too much but she didn't stop, a small part of her wondering if the potions were the reason for her outburst. "He would die to stop Voldemort, he would have if I wasn't there. Your brother is a far better man than you'll ever be Sirius Black. After all, you don't know what he experiences while you're off with the Potters over the summer and still, he's willing to sacrifice everything to bring down the one man that could bring the world to its knees."

She suddenly caught her tongue, going pale. "You aren't supposed to know any of that." She whispered, trying to remember how to breathe.

"You'd better start explaining before I march up to Dumbledore and tell him that you and Regulus snuck out of the castle and almost got yourselves killed." Sirius spoke darkly.

"He already knows genius." Maia rolled her eyes. "Who else do you think was helping us? He wasn't pleased that we went without him but at least he doesn't ask stupid questions."

"How did you know Regulus would have died?" Remus asked, ignoring Sirius' simmering anger.

Maia sighed. "The day you are a good enough legilimens to break into my mind is the day I'll answer that question." She spoke, pulling herself out of the bed. "Now just leave me alone before I obliviate you." She growled, storming from the hospital wing despite Madam Pomfrey's shrieks of protest.

Maia sighed. Searching for the rest of the Horcruxes would not be as easy as it had been in her time. Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius' father, most likely didn't have the diary, at least not yet. Though there was no harm in breaking into the Manor, especially given her recent discovery that most dark magic would not affect her. The potion was an exception thanks to its repulsive nature. It would make breaking into gringotts easier as well, especially with the new trick she had learned thanks to Regulus. There would be no need for the imperius curse this time as some well practised legilimency would not be undone by the thief's' downfall. And with Regulus at her side, it would be even easier. Two legilimens would be better than one.

After the locket incident, Dumbledore had agreed that he should not be seen with the pair on their horcrux hunts. He would deal with the ring, armed with the large amount of warnings Maia had left armed him with. She and Regulus would deal with the Diary and the cup, while an unsuspecting Professor would search for the diadem during the evening.

And so Maia spent her nights in the common room making a timeline of events, just to be sure that as many major events she knew of could be prevented. It was just her luck, that late one night, Remus had been sneaking down to the kitchens and, stood in the cloak behind her, read what little information she had compiled that night.

"Prewett twins' death?" He exclaimed, startling Maia.

"How much did you read?" She demanded, panic rising.

"Enough to know you're keeping a pretty big secret." He replied, his eyes going wider. "You are a death eater aren't you?" He demanded, tears filling his eyes.

"No Remus." She spoke, stopping him from leaving. "I'm trying to stop them, I promise. I've lost enough people in the last year to Riddle to last a lifetime."

"Then how do you know all of that?" He asked, dropping his voice to a whisper. "What are horcruxes? What are you?"

"I promise you Remus, one day I will be able to tell you everything. I just need you to be patient." She begged desperately. "I need you to trust me."

"At least tell me what you are." He spoke.

"I can't tell you that part." She frowned. "It was hard enough convincing Dumbledore to let Regulus keep his memory."

"You'll tell a death eater but not someone you know is fighting on your side." Remus dead panned.

"I didn't tell Reg anything." Maia admitted. "I told you that the day you learn legilimency is the day you get to know everything."

"So what? You expect me to believe that a fifth year is a legilimens." Remus almost laughed. "More skilled than Dumbledore? More skilled than Merlin?"

"Yes." Maia nodded. "Though I've never met Merlin." She added with a smile.

"What can you tell me?" He sighed.

"I can tell you that this war won't be over anytime soon." Maia began. "I can tell you that a prophecy will be made about the child of someone you know and the parents will die to protect him, and Voldemort will disappear for a time." She took a deep breath, noting the horror in Remus' eyes. "I can tell you that I'm here to stop that from ever happening. To make sure that Voldemort doesn't win this time."

"I can't tell the others any of this." Remus frowned.

"You can tell them to trust me and to trust Regulus too." Maia spoke, knowing that the other Marauders wouldn't enjoy hearing that. "You can tell them that if they want to know more, they can make an unbreakable vow first. Just like Regulus did. Just like you're going to. Though I'd rather you don't bring up anything about this conversation."

"This is really important then." Remus nodded.

"Yes, it is. I don't exactly make a habit of defeating dark wizards. " Maia nodded. "Would you like to make the vow to me or Dumbledore?" She asked, noting the hesitation in Remus' eyes.

"I'll make it to you." He declared. "I need you to know that you can trust me. And that I trust you."

"Let's head up to Dumbledore's office. I don't want your friends walking in on us making the vow.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

"I, Maia Germain, vow to keep your knowledge a secret from those who would want to do our cause harm." She spoke, tightly grasping Remus' forearm. She wasn't the biggest fan of taking these vows, the next was always more painful than the last. "I vow to protect you from any harm I have the power to prevent."

"I, Remus John Lupin, vow to keep all knowledge I gain a secret from those who would do our circle harm." He spoke, staring deeply into Maia's eyes. "I vow to protect our cause and do everything in my power to see it through."

"I vow this on my magic, lest I die." Maia spoke, her gaze intense.

"I vow this on my magic." Remus repeated. "Lest I die."

"The vow was complete, leaving a circle of four symbols on Remus' forearm, under the space Maia's hand had been. He stared at it, committing the white symbols to memory.

One was of the full moon, which obviously represented himself. Another was a fox, whom it symbolised he did not know, as was true of the hourglass. The final symbol was of a phoenix. Dumbledore.

"It's to warn us if someone is in danger. It will glow white, and the one of us in danger will glow red." Maia explained as the symbols faded. "Nobody else will be able to see it unless they've taken the vow as well."

Regulus burst through the door, startling the occupants, immediately sighing. "Maia was glowing red." He panted, suddenly noticing Remus in the room. "And that would explain why."

"Sorry." Maia winced. "I didn't think it would be that sensitive to pain."

"We will just have to gather our circle when a new vow is taken." Dumbledore smiled. "I would expect the rest of the marauders to be inducted before this is all over."

"I don't plan on it." Maia spoke, sharing a look with Regulus. "It's too dangerous."

"I understand." Remus nodded. "Though I don't see how they present more danger than I do."

"Your PMS isn't what we're concerned about." Regulus rolled his eyes, causing Maia to chuckle.

"How eloquently put." Maia smiled, trying her hardest to suppress her laughter.

"How much does he know?" Remus asked nervously, eyeing Regulus. He was uncomfortable, incredibly so.

"I told you how he found out, he knows everything I do." Maia smiled sympathetically. "And I know more about you than you think I do."

Remus' eyes went wide and Maia simply nodded, Regulus snorting at the scene.

"What is it with Gryffindors?" He muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"We're scarily perceptive?" Maia asked, trying to suppress a laugh.

"You're all dumb as a doornail and terrible at keeping a secret." Regulus corrected, no hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"This is where I share your sympathy Mr Lupin." Dumbledore spoke. "Mr Black knows far more than I do about the situation. She has refused to tell me who sent her back in time."

Maia rolled her eyes, shooting an angry look at the professor.

"You're from the future?" Remus exclaimed, his eyes going far wider than Maia thought was humanly possible.

"It seems Mr Lupin wasn't aware of that." Dumbledore frowned, though his eye was twinkling.

"You were well aware of that Professor." Regulus frowned, ignoring Remus' gaping.

"Yes Remus, I'm from the future. That's how I know so much." Maia smiled at the lycanthrope, hoping he would calm down enough not to draw attention to himself when he rejoined the marauders, though his expression didn't give her hope.

"You knew us, that's how you knew about the full moon." He gaped, apparently struggling to process the new information.

"While that much is true, I would have known if I wasn't from the future." She tried to soothe, though it wasn't working.

"I think we may need Madam Pomfrey to give him a calming draught." Professor Dumbledore observed, apparently realising his poor idea.

"I've got this." Maia shrugged, pushing her way into Remus' mind as sensitively as she could.

He was a mess, his thoughts running wild. She hadn't meant to see, but he was replaying his entire life speculating whether or not she knew. She didn't want to see him as a child, locked in a cage during the full moon, chains around his wrists, ankles and neck. She didn't want to see his mother terrified of him whenever he was upset, nor did she want to know that his father called him a monster. He was an isolated child, taught to fear himself, taught to hide from the world rather than accept who he was. She also didn't want to see a semi-drunken night he spent in Sirius' bed but she saw that too, followed by several repeat performances over the years. No, she definitely didn't want to see that. She tried her best to calm his nerves, selecting happy memories for him to reminisce on. The day the marauders showed him they were animagi was the strongest memory he had, so she brought it to the forefront of his mind, pushing his worry as far back as she could. She could feel his mind trying to fight back the strange presence, which meant that what she was doing was working. She tugged every happy memory she could find and pulled them to his awareness, noting that he was fighting her less. She was shocked to see that one of the rather powerful memories was of their conversation several weeks ago. She'd accepted him without a second thought, she'd even pressed a kiss to his cheek which he was particularly giddy about. She didn't speculate as to why, not wanting to know why it was such a strong memory, only caring that it wasn't a bad one.

She pulled back from his mind, gladly accepting the peace she felt when she did so. Being in another person's mind was a strange feeling to get used to, especially when you would feel what they did, the sad memories being the hardest to detach from. She'd thought she'd done a good job until she saw a tear running down his cheek.

"Sorry, Remus." She immediately apologised, taking a few steps back from him. "I hadn't meant to see that much."

"It's okay." He nodded, wiping the tear away. "It was just strange, suddenly feeling the happiest I've ever been."

"I wish you'd reacted like that." Regulus huffed, crossing his arms. "I also wish you'd been as gentle. You're a force to be reckoned with when you're angry."

Maia simply shrugged, loosely wrapping her arms around Regulus. "You started it." She teased, leaning her head on his shoulder, something she knew he didn't enjoy.

"Infuriating witch." He grumbled, not bothering to fight the hug.

"She prefers the phrase 'infuriating nymph'." Remus joked, rubbing his hands over his face. "And believe me, she corrects us on it a lot."

"I can imagine." Regulus rolled his eyes.

"While I love seeing inter house unity blossoming." Dumbledore smiled, cutting through their conversation. "It is almost curfew and you should return to your dormitories."

"They can come to my room, we still have a lot to bring Remus up to speed on." Maia nodded, letting Regulus free.

"Do make sure that they are respectful." Dumbledore spoke, the twinkle in his eye returning.

"They're both old enough to be my father." Maia frowned, not particularly enjoying the image in her mind.

"This just gets better and better." Remus sighed, following Maia from the headmaster's office.

"Oh, it's going to get worse." Regulus smiled devilishly, enjoying Remus' discomfort far too much.

"Play nice boys." Maia frowned at the pair, marching them to Gryffindor Tower. She was going to have a fun time of explaining their late night meeting to the rest of her house in the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

It had been rather early the next morning that Maia found herself reaching the end of her explanation, Remus sitting silently the entire time. Regulus had interjected when he could, explaining the effects of the potion with gruesome detail. It made her a little disheartened to know that Regulus had been having nightmares of the affair, the effect on the person watching was almost enough to rival that of the person drinking the potion. Almost. Remus had promised not to tell the marauders about any of what they had discussed, though the vow made it possible for him to divulge everything to them, briefly making Maia wonder if she should have made the vow include all people and not just death eaters. But she trusted Remus to keep their secret, only giving the marauders their predetermined coverstory for his absence. He had been caught on the way to the kitchens and was taken to Dumbledore. He'd asked about why Maia was in the hospital wing and received a very eye opening account, though he wouldn't share any details. He would simply state that Regulus could be trusted and that they should apologise for pushing Maia to tell them what happened. The apology had been Regulus' idea, who slipped from the common room shortly before sunrise.

The marauder's had apologised, Peter being rather teary eyed about it, and their friendship was back on track. Hermione began to wonder when James would start earning Lily's affection, after all she did want her best friend to be born. She decided not to interfere, no matter how tempting it was to push them together.

The horcrux hunting had to be put on hold until Maia had a better idea of where everything would be, as the professor didn't want her to be caught breaking into a death eater's home, especially if what she was looking for wasn't there. They couldn't let Voldemort know they were hunting pieces of his soul, and they couldn't destroy them too early in case he had time to make more.

Maia had, however, managed to sneak away from the castle one saturday and ventured into Diagon Alley, hoping to spot Rita Skeeter on her way out of the Daily Prophet editing rooms. She had a very important piece of information to be published, and given that it had worked in the past, she needed to use Skeeter to do it. Despite the questionable truth contained in her articles, the young reporter was still notorious for relying on rumor, conjecture and miraculously sourced quotes that left her readers believing that she was the most trustworthy of journalists, even during the beginnings of her career. At first, Maia had been upset to find out that she was publishing even in this time, but it had quickly become an advantage.

She had been hovering around the alley for several minutes before she decided to change her tactics. It would be far easier to corner the reporter if she simply requested a meeting and hoped that the promise of a very scandalous story would entice the gossip to meet with her privately, as she of course wanted to remain anonymous.

"I would write it myself but I'm not too comfortable with what I learned." Maia explained, having glamoured away her green skin for fear of persecution. "She's such a brave author, I'm certain that she could find the truth for wizarding britain."

The woman at the front desk had bought the story, determining to find the animagus and arrange a meeting immediately. She had been taken to an empty room and several minutes later was greeted with a young Rita Skeeter, as annoying and hopelessly sickening as she had been in the future.

"I heard an awful rumor at school." Maia began, hoping her acting as an adoring and unintelligent fan would do most of the convincing for her. "Some of the slytherin students were talking about you-know-who and they said the worst thing." She gushed, laying the horror as thick in her tone as she could. "They said that he was a student when that poor girl was killed. They said that he did it and framed Hagrid so that he could begin his rise to power. It was awful. They said he was a prefect too. How could a prefect kill someone?" She gasped, pushing out tears as she continued. She was tempted to use legilimency on her but didn't want to risk being found out.

"Who was he, dear?" Rita asked, having bought into Maia's tale, though it was simply the truth masked in far too much melodrama for her liking. "Who did such an awful thing?"

"They said he was someone called Riddle." Maia whispered, glancing around the room slightly. "The headmaster said he would find out if it was true but he hasn't done anything. What if you-know-who got back into the school?"

"I'll find the truth." Skeeter promised, placing her hand on Maia's. "You don't need to be scared about the slytherin students. I'll make sure they don't find out you talked to me."

Maia smiled, though she wished she could roll her eyes. The woman wouldn't give credit to her sources even if they payed her to. She was a sucker for fame and the more outlandish stories she could find the better. The story Maia had handed to her would be the pinnacle of her career, though it did not bode well for the future if Rita Skeeter was regarded as a foremost authority in the publishing world. She would simply have to leak her animagus status to the ministry and hope that she would be too paranoid to continue eavesdropping in on conversations.

Dumbledore had overlooked her leaving the castle in favour of agreeing that it would work rather to their favour if Riddle's blood status was made clear to the purebloods that followed him. It would work wonderfully, though there was a risk of escalating the war. In that event, they would have to rethink their tactics, though it wouldn't be the end of the world. If Riddle was invested in the war, he might begin to get lax with the protection of his horcruxes. It wasn't likely, but they could hope.

Maia had left the library when her arm began to glow, the phoenix glowing red. It had done that before her meeting with him the day earlier, but the professor had chalked it up to his ageing knees which were apparently causing him trouble.

"Maia." Regulus yelled, approaching the girl completely bewildered. "What's going on? Dumbledore keeps glowing red."

"I don't know." Maia frowned, not taking her eyes off of her own arm. "I was in there just now and he said it was just knee pain."

"Maybe it's not." Remus answered, suddenly appearing behind the pair. "Have you noticed that it starts to burn when something really bad is happening."

"No." Regulus shrugged, narrowing his eyes at the lycanthrope.

"It burns for me too." Maia agreed, pulling her eyes away from the symbol.

The trio made their way to the headmaster's office, worry rising. Anything could be wrong. In her own time, Dumbledore had been dying after coming into contact with the Gaunt ring, but the curse had been in his hand and the evidence of such a thing hadn't been obvious. It could simply be the presence of horcruxes that the Professor kept locked away in his office. But then it would constantly be glowing, not this strange pattern.

"Do you hear that?" Remus suddenly piqued, his head turning to the doorway to Dumbledore's office.

"What is is?" Maia demanded, knowing that she and Regulus would be unable to hear whatever Remus could.

"There's a woman in there." He spoke, his eyebrows furrowing. "She's crying."

Maia's eyes went wide, her head turning to face the stairs. "He didn't listen to me." She growled, turning to face the boys. "Go to James and Sirius and tell them everything. I don't want to worry Peter, he's too good for this. Make sure they agree to take the vow with me before you say anything."

The boys immediately sprinted away, leaving Maia to enter the headmaster's office. She was not surprised at the sight before her, the professor holding his wand in a shaking hand as a shadowy figure of Arianna Dumbledore hovered several feet from him.

"Join me." She whispered, holding her hands out.

Maia could barely move as the professor raised his wand to his head, his hand shaking even more. In a flash, Maia disarmed the headmaster, catching his wand. It seemed to warm to her touch, which wasn't surprising given its nature.

"What are you doing?" The old man asked, frowning eerily at Maia. She was very worried. He seemed to be completely entranced by the stone. It would only be a matter of time before he found a way to end his life, even if she removed his memory of ever seeing the stone or the ghostly figure of his sister.

"You didn't listen to me." Maia frowned. "I told you not to touch the stone."

"I had to." The professor replied, pacing to the window at the back of his office.

"Get back from the window." Maia spoke, her voice going low.

"No." The professor shook his head, turning to face her. "I have reached the end of my story." He spoke, launching himself backward and out of the window.

Maia rushed forward, a scream filling her ears. When she reached the window, all she could see was the broken body of Albus Dumbledore on the ground below, a small group of students rushing over, their faint screams reaching her ears. Maia didn't waste any time, gathering the horcruxes and resurrection stone, the world moving slowly around her. She clutched to the headmaster's former wand, hiding the other items in her beaded bag. She went back to the window, staring down at her former headmaster, wishing she hadn't seen him dead on the ground twice.

"Miss Germain?" A voice spoke from behind her, she wasn't aware of who it was, nor did she care.

"He used the resurrection stone, even after I warned him not to." She spoke, her voice hollow. "He was supposed to live to see the end of the war. He needed to."

"What happened to him?" The voice asked.

"He jumped." She spoke hollowly, turning to see several professors staring at her with tears in their eyes.

Professor McGonagall seemed to be the one who had been speaking to her, the other professors were simply staring at her.

"What do we do?" Maia whispered, feeling tears fall down her cheeks.

The head of gryffindor house wrapped her arms around Maia, somehow able to hold back her tears. "We try to continue on."

 _AN- I feel awful for that. I wasn't planning on killing off our beloved headmaster this early, if ever, but I needed it for some of the rest of the story. Sorry?_


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

 _WAS DUMBLEDORE REALLY THE MAN TO PUT OUR FAITH IN?  
An Expose_ _é_ _by Rita Skeeter_

 _Shortly before the shocking death of the former Hogwarts headmaster, a student reached out to me to share a most shocking story. She had heard rumors of You-Know-Who's true identity and came to me after her headmaster had failed to soothe her fear. It appeared that the headmaster may not have been the reliable man we knew._

 _After some research, I discovered the identity of the so called 'Dark Lord' to be Tom Marvolo Riddle, the son of Merope Gaunt and a muggle man named Tom Riddle. This half blood has been raising an army against the very people he shares blood with and has been manipulating the pureblood population for years. Though I do not know why he would choose to wage war against muggles and muggleborns, there is a bigger question to answer. What was Dumbledore's involvement in this?_

 _Upon first glance, our benevolent former headmaster appeared to be the man who could save us from all dark wizards, a truly heroic and just pursuit. However, we may have put our faith in the wrong man. Professor Dumbledore has always been in the limelight, periodically doing the wizarding world good. But given his lack of adversaries over the last decade, it has made this author wonder if he was looking for the next triumph in a long list of successes._

 _Perhaps our headmaster had hoped to return to the forefront of public favour by creating and defeating the next dark wizard of our age. After hearing questions about Tom Riddle from one of his students, perhaps the professor decided that it was time to stop living a lie._

 _I do not have the answer, however we can hope that this Death Eater threat will fade after the passing of Albus Dumbledore. In my upcoming book, 'The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore', I hope to discover just what this man had done during his many years in the public's favour._

Maia slammed the daily prophet to the table, angry that she had been the only reason that any of this had happened. She had spoken to Skeeter and lit the flame for the horrid woman to drag Dumbledore's name through the mud. Maia had no doubt that once Riddle had finished celebrating Dumbledore's death he would strike back as hard as he could. She had convinced James to hand over the cloak to her after explaining all that she knew was safe for James and Sirius to know, a Stag and a Dog joining the ring of symbols, either side of a phoenix that had turned grey and set itself permanently into their skin.

Several months passed and Maia knew something was wrong. The summer break was almost upon them and Riddle hadn't made a sound since Dumbledore's death. Perhaps he had changed his tactic now that he no longer had a 'worthy adversary' to defeat, or perhaps he had kept his movements quiet so that the wizarding world would believe Rita Skeeter's blatant lie. And the wizarding world did believe her, for a time. After a short conversation with Professor McGonagall, the temporary headmistress, a letter had been sent to the ministry about the reporter being an unregistered animagus and she was arrested the next day. All copies of 'The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore' were burned by angry readers and the daily prophet had to work exceedingly hard to repair their image, after all they had employed a criminal.

A gathering of Maia, Regulus and the Marauders, bar Peter, in her private room, left them decided that they should not involve any of the other teachers. Dumbledore had been an exception, allowing Maia and Regulus to track down horcruxes, but any other Professor would immediately ban them from their search, alert the ministry, and make it impossible to find the remaining horcruxes and destroy them. No. They wouldn't tell their professors.

They still tried to convince her to go to Dumbledore's grave, to get some closure. She had refused to attend the funeral and she would refuse to visit it no matter how many months or years passed. She had already attended a funeral for Albus Dumbledore, she had no desire to see it again.

A short letter landed in her lap one morning, a package attached to the parchment. She begrudgingly opened the letter already recognising the handwriting.

 _Should I pass before our cause is achieved, I would like you to have the contents of his small box. The undetectable extension charm should not mislead you. You should only receive this four months after my death and no sooner._

 _Good luck, Miss Germain._

"Are you going to open it?" Remus asked her, frowning sadly at her.

"Some day." Maia frowned, placing the package in her beaded bag and continuing to eat her breakfast.

The days following made it very tempting for Maia to open the package as it seemed to call out to her, though it wasn't a very positive pull. There was something very dark contained in the box and she did not want to know what it was.

"I'll open it if you're going to be that stubborn." Regulus had threatened one evening, rolling his eyes at her. "He only meant for you to have it if he died before Riddle was defeated. For all you know it could be a horcrux detector."

"That doesn't exist." Maia muttered, staring down at the package. She sighed and pulled the paper away from the box, revealing a decadent black wooden box with a silver M decorated on the top.

She opened the box and could barely breathe. There inside was a black leather book and a gold cup, the two objects they had been searching for for months. A letter inside from an unknown third party.

"Are they..." Regulus could barely speak, glee filling his tone.

"We have the last two horcruxes." She smiled, her smile suddenly dropping to a frown. "Why didn't he just give them to us, he knew we were looking for them." She pulled open the letter, reading the neat cursive inside.

 _Miss Germain,_

 _I gave this box to Professor Dumbledore with very strict instructions. Only once you had gathered the strength to defeat the Dark Lord could he present these objects to me, left in my father-in-law's care. Despite his rather brilliant acting, I know that my young cousin has been searching for these items, given that he has never had the gall to ask to have tea in someone else's home, he's far too polite to do something to shocking._

 _I wish to have a child in the future, and I do not want them to be born into a family dictated by the Dark Lord. He would never be able to choose his own path, something I hope for him to be able to do._

 _Gather your strength, raise an army if you have to, and end this war._

The letter was not signed, though it wasn't hard to work out who had sent it. Narcissa Malfoy had given them the key to ending the war.

"You should invite your cousin for tea, I really want to meet her." Maia grinned brightly, placing the rest of the horcruxes in the box. They were repulsive enough on their own but to experience the dark hue that oozed from the objects when they were together was far too horrid to describe.

"We just need to go get the Diadem." Regulus smiled. "I'm not one for the black family tradition of marrying as close to your family as possible but if she wasn't already married I would marry her in a heartbeat." He laughed, pulling Maia into a hug.

"Let's not celebrate yet." Maia laughed. "We aren't prepared to take on a wealth of death eaters alone. We need to reform the order."

"Technically it hasn't been formed yet." Regulus grinned, purposefully teasing Maia.

"Keep that up and I'll feed you to a werewolf." She rolled her eyes, placing the box back inside her beaded bag.

"You won't." Regulus grinned, moving to leave the room. "You made an unbreakable vow remember." He quickly escaped the room before Maia could hex him, which was a rather smart move on his part.

"What are we going to do?" Maia breathed, reaching out to the willow.

 _We go on._ It replied. _And we live._


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

The summer came and went and Maia felt no more prepared to take on Riddle than she had in her own time. She felt like she was running around blindly in the dark, hopelessly defenseless against the wealth of Death Eater attacks over the summer. It seemed that Riddle noticed a Hogwarts student had given up his identity and he spent the summer torturing as many of her classmates as he could find looking for the person who had revealed his secret to the world. Despite his blood status, he still had a rather large army at his command, though being the heir of Slytherin might have been the reason that they hadn't tried to kill him yet.

Having spent the summer at Hogwarts was most likely the only reason that she hadn't been found and killed by the dark wizard. He had taken to calling himself Riddle again, which quickly gained the fear that Voldemort had brought to the wizarding population. Maia was certain that she had done the wrong thing exposing him so soon, especially via Rita Skeeter, as some people had been questioning whether Riddle truly was Voldemort, though a few corpses and threats confirmed the name.

Terror was at an all time high and a large number of families had pulled their children out of Hogwarts, the returning students being mostly comprised of muggleborns and slytherins, which made the tension of a mere seven first years painfully evident. Maia was glad that her circle was still attending, though it did make her sad to see Peter absent from his seventh year, a short letter from him explaining that his mother was moving them to America to keep him as far from the war in Britain as she could. Maia wondered if this was what Hogwarts was like when she, Harry and Ron had been on the run.

McGonagall had been appointed as the permanent headmistress and was very good at hiding how uncomfortable she was sat in Dumbledore's former seat. Anybody else wouldn't have noticed her discomfort, but Maia was far more observant than the other students. She was very familiar with the reason McGonagall would drum her fingers on a table, and it wasn't impatience.

Maia recalled the meeting she'd had with McGonagall over the summer, though she had suspected that her initial question of why Dumbledore had allowed her to stay in the castle over the summer was a ruse. She had really wanted to know why Dumbledore had died, and after a long talk about whether the stone was safe, or even real, Maia had convinced her to allow it to remain in her possession. Afterall, there was nobody that she was tempted to use the stone to see, they weren't born yet.

Maia had remained true to her word to keep the stone safely hidden inside a locket around her neck. It was eerily reminiscent of the time she had spent with a horcrux around her neck, but this locket didn't threaten to send her into a deep and dangerous depression. It was oddly comforting, despite the horror it threatened to bring upon the unwary, knowing no one else could be driven to suicide by it.

Several weeks passed by, with Maia teaching her circle how to duel, which was more for her own sanity than anything else. It also helped, given James' newfound sense of purpose, as Lily had begun warming up to the animagus, a sweet love blossoming between the pair.

It was when she was called to McGonagall's office late one night that she began to worry. Perhaps the headmistress had heard of her training four of her students as soldiers, or worse, she knew why.

She hesitantly made her way up to the office, preparing for any number of truths to leave the woman's lips. She knocked on the door and waited to be called in, sitting in one of the chairs as requested by the professor.

"How are you finding the new year, Miss Germain?" The witch began, a heavy sense of disapproval in the woman's tone.

"Well enough." Maia smiled politely. "It's strange for the population to be so small after last year."

"It is rather unfortunate." McGonagall nodded. "But something we should have foreseen given the death of the late headmaster."

"It's been hard on us all." She replied, leaving out the 'myself especially' that echoed in her mind.

"I would continue with our idle small talk, but there is a rather pressing matter we should discuss." She spoke, leaning forward on the desk.

Maia braced herself for the worst.

"A prophecy has been made." She spoke. Maia hadn't been expecting that. "An unspeakable brought it to my attention when he discovered who the prophecy details. It concerns yourself, a child who I can only assume has not been born yet, Tom Riddle Jr and Death himself."

"That does sound rather troubling." Maia nodded. She was curious as to who the unborn child was, deading that it would be Harry.

McGonagall pulled a sheet of parchment out from her robes and began to read. "It doesn't make much sense.

" _The cool hand of death, warm to the touch of the timeless, guiding those who would cheat him._

 _A man and a woman, both of two names and two natures, locked in a battle foretold in the future and the past._

 _None shall truly know them until the end is met and either the darkness is filled or the light burns out._

 _Only through death's mercy can the world truly be free and by death's hard touch will the world endure shadow._

"I believe that there is something about yourself that you have neglected to share. Unless you live on to take the name Hermione Granger."

Maia swallowed hard, having dreaded to share McGonagall her true reason for existing in this time. "I have only kept this to myself to protect my friends." She began, squirming under the woman's cold stare. "I used to be called Hermione Granger, in a different life. A different time."

"I suppose that you understand this prophecy?" McGonagall asked, her stare persisting.

"I do." Maia nodded. "Before this war can end, I have to fight Riddle and one of us will die."

"A harsh destiny for someone so young." McGonagall noted, her expression growing sad.

"I knew it would end like that before the prophecy." Maia shrugged. "It just means that I can't give Riddle the chance to change."

"Would you truly want to?" McGonagall asked, her tone skeptical.

"Everyone deserves the chance to change. You just have to give it to them."

"You're braver than I." McGonagall smiled. "To even think of facing him let alone offer him redemption."

"I suppose." Maia nodded, quickly growing uncomfortable.

"It's almost curfew." McGonagall noted. "I suppose I should let you go before Filch takes it upon himself to give you detention."

Maia simply smiled politely and left the office, a dark sadness clawing at her. It was most likely that she would fail, having seen Harry die at Riddle's hand once before, she just hoped that she would have a fighting chance. She of course wouldn't simply give in, she'd go kicking and screaming, never mind if a prophecy had sealed her fate, it would be a waste of the months she had spent preparing for her campaign against Riddle.

"What's wrong Maia?" Remus had asked her, though she simply ignored the question, choosing to instead walk straight past the three marauders and into her room. She pulled on Draco's quidditch shirt, glad that she had placed a charm on it to hold in his scent, and for the first time since she first arrived, Maia cried herself to sleep, wishing Draco was with her to tell her everything would be okay.


	12. Chapter 12

Maia knew that her symbol would be burning in the arms of her friends, she was definitely far from okay, and with so many dark and dangerous artifacts in her possession she was surprised it wasn't always glowing. But she could tell that they were worried, that they were seeing her hourglass glow a bright angry red because someone had walked into her room and was sat next to her on the bed, a hand on hers. It wasn't Remus, she would be able to tell if it were him or any of the other marauders. There was no animalistic radiance coming from the body next to hers, it was just a body, a person who knew her password. She supposed that it would be Regulus but was surprised when she looked up to send him away that it was not Reg, nor any of the marauders. It was Lily Evans, her shocking red hair being the obvious giveaway. She thought it was Ginny for a moment before remembering that she was all alone in this time, none of her friends had travelled back with her.

"How did you get in?" Maia asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the soft green sleeves of Draco's shirt. Lily didn't seem confused by her attire, or at least didn't ask.

"I forced Remus to tell me your password." The ginger girl smiled, her eyes seemed to radiate warmth, cheering Maia's spirits a little. "He won't tell me how he knows it, or how he knows something is wrong, but I suppose they're used to keeping secrets."

Maia laughed, understanding the double meaning. She had always thought James told Lily about their monthly excursions but it made sense that she would work it out herself. "I don't suppose you'll hold off on the questions." Maia smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. She pulled herself into a seated position, hugging her knees.

"I do have one." Lily smiled, pushing her hair from her eyes. "Will you tell me everything?"

"Are you sure you're a Gryffindor?" Maia joked, a few tears falling again. "You sound remarkably like someone I used to know."

"Lucius Malfoy by any chance?" Lily asked, her eyes darting to the quidditch jersey. "Though I'm pretty sure he never played."

"A different Malfoy." Maia smiled, not too worried about sharing the barest of details. "A different time really."

"Does this have anything to do with the boys' newfound fascinations with their forearms?" Lily asked. Of course she would have noticed.

"Yes." Maia smiled. She was fairly sure that no lie would pass by Lily unnoticed. "And I'll have to have a long conversation with them before I tell you anything else."

Lily nodded, scooting over so sit shoulder to shoulder with Maia, pulling her own knees up to her chest. "I approve. Whatever it is you're doing." She commented. "James seems to have matured overnight, so has Sirius. Remus was always mature but they've all changed, they seem, not older, but older." Lily laughed, struggling to find the right word. "They have a purpose beyond pranking the student population and whatever that purpose is, I think it's good for them."

"I wouldn't be too sure." Maia joked, her voice still wavering. "For all you know I could get them all killed."

"I don't think so." Lily disagreed, a light smile carrying over into her voice. "They've always been dancing with death, I doubt that you'd make that any more likely."

"You know a lot more than you let them believe." Maia commented, turning her head to look at Lily. "Why not tell them?"

"And ruin their fun?" Lily laughed, leaning her head back against the wall. "They're still enjoying the idea of being able to pull the wool over my eyes. When they're ready, they'll tell me."

"I'm not sure if there's enough time for that." Maia frowned, resting her chin on her knees. "I'm not sure if there's enough time for any of this."

"There's always time." Lily smiled. "Maybe not a lot, but enough."

Maia spent the days after her conversation with Lily debating whether to bring her into the fold. She'd already spoken to Professor McGonagall about starting the Order and had refused to divulge any information past 'it's time' which didn't sit well with either the headmistress or Maia, but she wasn't too sure if she could trust anyone that the older woman would bring into the fold. Better to let them be the obvious target, she could get a lot more done if nobody knew her true purpose in the war, at least nobody who had yet to take an unbreakable vow. Which brought everything back around to Lily. She knew she could trust her, Maia just wasn't sure if any of the others would. Divulging her secret, bringing her into the circle would mean exposing Remus and she wasn't too sure if she wanted to force that on him. It was his decision after all.

Which led her to the only conclusion that made sense, she'd let everyone decide.

"Absolutely not." James spoke, his arms crossed over his chest and a stony look on his face. "This is far too dangerous for her to be involved in."

"It's not like she'd be running around with a werewolf every full moon." Sirius interjected, a slight smile flashed in Remus' direction. "She probably already knows, it would just mean that she knows we trust her."

"It's not about trust." James almost yelled. "I'd trust Lily with my life but I don't want to have to. She shouldn't be involved in something this dangerous, especially not with us. I don't want her joining McGonagall's Order business, let alone the real hunt to kill the darkest wizard to have walked the earth."

"I can think of much worse." Regulus spoke up with a shrug. "We tell her the general idea of what we're doing, without giving her any dangerous information and then we let her decide."

"None of us got a choice." James huffed. "Which I'm perfectly fine with but when we were inducted it was because Dumbledore had died and you needed more help, not because Maia wants a girl friend in the circle."

"That's not what this is about James." Maia finally spoke, sick of hearing their revolving argument. "Lily Evans is so important to the timeline that I don't want her involved, I don't want any of you marauders involved. But you are. I had Regulus take the vow because he had seen inside my head, because he knew more than Dumbledore, way more than you do, and I wanted to be sure that my real identity was safe, which for the most part it is. Hell Remus barely knows who I was and I would prefer to keep it that way but I am offering to tell you everything, and I want Lily to hear that too."

"I wouldn't tell them _everything_." Regulus spoke up, glancing at James. "But I agree that they should know more and it might be a good idea to bring Lily into this, I'd even consider telling Severus at this point."

"You want us to trust Snivellus with our lives." Sirius yelled, jumping up from his chair.

"What do you think he would do?" Maia asked, anger rising up inside her. "Would he humiliate you? Would he spend every waking moment mapping out his next attack against you? Would he lure you into the jaws of a werewolf?"

"How do you know about that?" Sirius stammered, his face going pale.

"I suppose that you'll get to know once we've made a decision." Maia smiled, Draco's smirk colouring her expression. "But at this point I'm thinking of overruling you and bringing them in anyway."

"Since when was this a dictatorship?" James asked, the tone of his voice rising.

"Since I'm the one Riddle has to kill." She yelled, all of her anger fading away when she saw the pale expressions on her four friends' faces. "I have to kill Riddle or he has to kill me. There's no other way for this to end."

"Who else knows?" Regulus asked, by far the most calm about the news, though he wasn't very happy either.

"McGonagall, an unspeakable, I don't know if there's anyone else." Maia frowned. "All I know is that Death has to show one of us mercy, has to choose who gets to survive this."

"We're telling them." Remus decided for them, though he didn't seem to happy about it. "Snape didn't have to keep my lycanthropy a secret, no matter what Dumbledore said to him. He kept it a secret and I have to believe that there's at least some good in him, because we're probably the reason he's become the person he is."

"Believe me, you are." Regulus frowned, noting the guilty look on his brother's face. "You showed him nothing but hate, so he turned somewhere else for acceptance, and I'm well aware that he didn't have to turn to dark magic, but you didn't exactly prove to him that the other choice was a good one."

"I'll talk to them both tomorrow and let you know if we're making any more vows." Maia decided, leaving the boys alone in the common room. How Regulus made his way up to the seventh floor without being spotted was beyond her, though she wouldn't be too upset with the idea. He was far closer to the situation than the others, and he seemed to be a good peacemaker. Perhaps that was a Slytherin trait. She just hoped that Snape had that too.

 **AN- sorry i haven't posted in so long, I'm still caught up in university work which I should have finished months ago but I should be able to update a little more frequently now. I hope you're still enjoying the story. I'd love to hear what you think about it so far.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After borrowing the marauder's map, Maia managed to find Snape, though she supposed that she should have worked out that he would be spending all of his free time in the library, she supposed that she should be too, but he didn't have the weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders, yet.

"Severus Snape." Maia spoke hesitantly, approaching him once he was alone, though it wasn't too hard to be alone when you sat in the back of the library.

"What do you want?" He spoke, rather uninterested in what she had to say.

"To talk." Maia smiled, sitting down at the table with him. "I don't bite, promise."

"Your friend does." He rolled his eyes, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading.

"And you've been very generous in keeping that to yourself." Maia commented, preparing for a conversation that she knew he wouldn't want to hear. "I never thanked you."

"For what?" He grumbled, resigning himself to his new company.

"Saving my life." Maia smiled. "Lily never got around to introducing us."

"Well, we obviously don't need introductions." He spoke, his expression bored.

"I want to tell you something, something Regulus already knows." Maia began, trying to be as exact as possible when she couldn't share any information about what she knew. "But I can't tell you, not yet. I need you to make an unbreakable vow before I can." Snape's interest seemed to pique at this, though he was very good at hiding it, though not quite good enough.

"Why would I want to make an unbreakable vow with you?" Snape frowned.

"Because I know you, though you can't know how." Maia spoke. "And if even the smallest part of that is true then I know that you just want to do the right thing, and you haven't been given the chance to yet. Dumbledore didn't believe you could be a good man, and I know that Riddle doesn't. But I believe in you. Prove me right."

Snape seemed taken aback, hearing the thoughts he'd always kept secret vocalised by a girl with green skin. He would have assumed she was using legilimency on him, but he could sense that she was keeping her mind to herself, keeping out of his. "Okay." Snape nodded, leaning forward. "I'll listen."

"Come with Regulus to Gryffindor tower tonight and I'll explain everything there." Maia smiled, leaving him at the table. "Oh, and Severus." She called out, a final thought entering her mind. "Don't use legilimency on me. You won't like what you see."

Her conversation with Lily was much easier, given that she didn't have to rapidly build a sense of trust with her in a few sentences. Lily was quick to agree and seemed rather anxious for the day to be over.

When it finally was, Maia found herself pacing in her room, Lily and the marauders being the first to enter her room, though they didn't have to sneak across the castle in the middle of the night. Twelve came and went and Maia began to worry as the seconds ticked by and there was no sign of Regulus or Snape. When they finally arrived it was nearer to twenty minutes past and Maia's worry flooded away.

"I was worried you wouldn't be coming." Maia smiled, relief flooding her features.

"We had to take a detour to avoid Filch." Regulus shrugged, taking his regular seat on her windowsill.

Snape on the other hand seemed to stand rather awkwardly near the door, a little intimidated by the trio of marauders sat on Maia's bed and the red head sat by the fire. Maia quickly conjured another chair, making a rather misshapen circle for the group to sit in. Maia stood by her usual seat, the rather run down yellow chair facing the fire, which had been turned to face inside the room.

"Before I can start, I need the two of you to make an unbreakable vow." Maia explained, looking between Snape and Lily. "It isn't all binding, though I suppose it is in a way. I make a vow to you, promising to keep all knowledge a secret from anyone who would want to do any of us harm and to protect and defend you any way I can and you make the same vow to me, though you don't promise to defend me, but our cause."

"What if one of us gets hurt, wouldn't that break all of our vows and kill us all?" Snape asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"It won't." Maia reassured him. "We do what we can to help each other, if you aren't able to do something, your vow doesn't break."

"I suppose that's acceptable." Snape shrugged, standing up to face Maia, offering his arm. "Let's get this over with."

Regulus stood also, preparing his wand for the vow. With a muttered incantation the vow was initiated, nodding to Maia to begin.

"I, Maia Germain, vow to protect all knowledge from those who would do our cause harm and vow to protect you in any way I can." She spoke, having become accustomed to making this particular vow. There was a certain dedication in her voice that she was certain none of the others could replicate, not truly. Though he wasn't the man from her time, not really, he was still the man who sent her back, the man she had begun to discover the true nature of.

"I, Severus Snape, vow to keep all knowledge I learn a secret, protecting it from those who would use it against us and I vow to protect our cause, to do all I can to see it through." He replied. As the vow completed, setting the markings into his skin, he did the one thing he knew he would pay for and looked through Maia's mind with as much speed as he could, barely managing to break past the walls in her mind.

"Bastard." She swore, pulling her arm from his, a rather sated anger taking her.

Snape simply stood wide eyed, his breathing hard and fast. "How?" He whispered. "How can you still stand here?"

"Because I have to." Maia spoke, still annoyed by Snape's intrusion. "And for that I'm calling you Severus from now on."

Severus nodded. "Perfectly fair." He breathed, sitting down, a rather overwhelmed expression on his face.

"I suppose it's my turn." Lily spoke hesitantly, moving to stand with Maia. Their vows were the same, though lily added to defend Maia as well as their cause which surprised her. She hadn't made any of the others do that, especially when she was likely to die at the end of this, but she supposed that Lily would be fine, after all, there wasn't much the redhead would be able to do for her when the final battle came.

"I suppose that I need to tell you all everything." Maia sighed, taking a seat. "Though two of you now know everything."

"I'm not going to apologise for that." Severus commented, lazing back in his chair.

"The day you did would be the day I join Riddle." Maia rolled her eyes, preparing herself from the onslaught of questions that would come from such a tale as hers.

"I wasn't born Maia Germain. I wasn't born a half nymph. Though before you ask, I do truly have the blood of a nymph coursing through my veins thanks to a rather interesting piece of magic, but that can all come later." She began, noting the looks on her friends faces as she began. "I was born Hermione Jean Granger, to two muggle parents on the 19th of September 1979."

She spun her tale, keeping some rather important details out, like many of the names of her friends and their parents, which would most likely cause uproar in her current company. But she gave them an overview of her time in the future, focusing more on Riddle and his horcruxes, leaving them no room to ask questions as she reached the point in her tale where she met them and beyond, finding it rather hard to talk about the demise of their former headmaster.

"He was using the resurrection stone to see his sister, the one person in his life he truly lost. But it's too much to even consider and it draws you to the point of insanity." Maia explained, having left out much about the deathly hallows up until this point. "The wand and the stone were asked for as a way of spiting death, mocking him almost, and so he turned the joke back around. They're desirable objects. A wand that can be bested by no other, a stone that can bring back the dead, they're things people would kill for. Have killed for. That's what they do, they kill. They were created that way so that they would entice people, draw them in, and lead them straight to death's hands."

"But what would Dumbledore want with them?" Lily asked, rather confused by this portion of Maia's story. "He was the most powerful wizard alive, why would he want to cheat death?"

"He was only so powerful because he possessed the elder wand." Maia spoke, a frown on her face. "I hate to destroy your image of him but he wasn't the all powerful man he appeared to be."

"I suppose he wasn't." Lily frowned, apparently rather upset with the newfound information.

"I've got the stone and wand safe, and I know the cloak is in somewhat good hands." Maia spoke, glancing at James with a knowing look.

"I still can't imagine why Dumbledore would want the Deathly Hallows." Regulus frowned, one of the few things he didn't know from seeing into Maia's mind was the answer to the now burning question in his own.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Maia frowned before continuing with the rest of her tale, slightly disappointed that she didn't have all of the answers to the questions she was being asked. After everything she'd done, it felt like she was in the dark again, and she really didn't like it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Maia had decided that waiting for a lone professor to find the Diadem was taking too long, especially because it had been quite some time since Dumbledore had set them to the task. With some convincing, James gave up his cloak for Maia, Regulus and Severus to sneak up to the room of requirement, a room Maia didn't particularly want them knowing about. She dreaded to think what they would get up to with the knowledge of it, after all she prefered them focused, not distracted with their newest prank.

They drudged through the mass of forgotten trinkets, broken chairs and generally useless items, reminding her of the struggle for the diadem she endured with Ron and Harry, two names she hadn't spoken aloud in almost a year. She could barely remember what they looked like, what they sounded like, their faces fading into lost memory. She barely held onto Draco, clutching desperately to the single photograph she had of him, which she kept hidden away in her beaded bag. Of all the people she knew, Maia wouldn't allow Draco to fade away, not after all they struggled through, especially after he gave his life for hers, that memory refusing to dislodge itself from her nightmares.

She pushed the thoughts aside and went back to searching through the stacks she remembered the diadem residing in last time she searched. Regulus and Severus seemed distracted too, though it was no surprise considering the memories she had associated with that room. Memories she wasn't too happy they knew about considering that she snuck into one of many rooms with Draco late at night. Harry had become suspicious of her sneaking around at night, but with a quick lie about trying to catch Draco he had let the suspicion fade and she went back to sneaking around with her lover. No, she wasn't too pleased they had seen those particular memories.

"Are we sure it's here?" Regulus asked after several hours, jumping down from one rather tall stack.

"Riddle came to the castle in the forties to hide it, it's been here for thirty years, it'll be here for another twenty at least." Maia spoke, climbing up one eerily familiar tower of items. "It has to be here."

"Your friend, the one you're doing all of this for." Severus began, still absently searching through the mess. "You barely remember him, just small facts and pieces that you can barely hold onto." He stopped searching for a moment, calling Maia to his attention. "Why are you still doing this? You could live a quiet, happy life."

"You know why." Maia sighed, turning to face Severus. "I may have had a choice like that a few months ago, but not now, not after the prophecy. In my time it was him who had to face Riddle, and now it's me. But I'm not doing it for him, though it will make his life a lot better this time around. I'm doing it because the man I love died so that I could." Maia coughed slightly. "The man I loved."

"You can still love him." Regulus frowned slightly. "Someone doesn't have to be in your immediate presence to love them, you can love someone who's gone."

Maia didn't respond, going back to her search, trying to hold back a few tears that threatened to break her. She'd been crying a lot more lately, especially when one of her friends would bring up how she got into the past, obviously dissatisfied with the meager amount of information she had. She didn't appreciate being forced to relive that memory over and over again, she relived it enough on her own.

"I think I have something." Regulus yelled, pointing above Maia's head at a small box that seemed to be burned in her memory.

Maia climbed as quickly as she could to the offending piece, opening it to reveal the final horcrux, the one she had been fretting over. But now that it was in her hand, she didn't feel anything but a looming sense of dread, knowing what she had to do next, and what it could mean for the six people she had begun to trust. She could get one of them killed, something she knew she would only feel a harrowing sense of guilt for. She quickly stuffed the piece into her beaded bag, trying to keep her breathing even. While the horcruxes may be in her beaded bag she could still feel their repulsive auras, the whispers that made her stomach churn. It was unsettling to say the least.

"Let's get out of here." Maia breathed, quickly climbing her way back down.

With the cloak firmly around the trio, they sped their way to the gryffindor common room, keeping an eye out for Filch or his cat. It was a fairly easy journey, being far quicker than it would to sneak down to the Slytherin common room. They made their way through the portrait and pulled off the cloak, noticing the four gryffindors gathered nervously by the fire.

"You're back." Lily breathed, a big smile on her face as she rushed up and pulled Maia into a giant hug. "I was so worried, after what you told us about finding the locket… I didn't know what it would do to you."

Maia happily returned the hug, a lazy smile on her face. "It's not finding them that's the hard part."

"Are you sure?" Regulus asked, an eyebrow raised. "Because I remember force feeding you a potion that made you beg for death."

Maia closed her eyes for a moment, casting her memory back to destroying the horcruxes back in her time. "I'm sure. They'll fight against you, bargain, plead, do anything to stop you from destroying it." She sighed, her smile fading. "It's hell." She left the common room, curling up in front of her own fireplace, staring into the flames. She knew that she'd need fiendfyre but the only man she knew could control it jumped from his window before the summer started. Of course there was a basilisk under the school but she didn't particularly want to fight it, especially when it could kill with a single glance. They'd have to find another way to destroy them.

After that, Maia spent hours in the library, even though she knew that she wouldn't find any information on the subject, she simply wanted to be thorough, and distract herself from the dread that she couldn't seem to shake. It was like having them all in one place was multiplying their effects, making it harder to keep going. She could try not to dwell but there was something about them that seemed to pull her attention, that begged her to stop and go back, wherever 'back' was.

"This isn't healthy." James interrupted her one saturday afternoon. "You barely eat. You barely sleep. You look like you're a strand away from collapsing in that chair."

"I'm well aware." Maia sighed, remembering this feeling well. She had seen her friends begin to wither away from its effects, and that was with one horcrux around their necks, and she held five in her beaded bag and the pull from them was almost irresistible. Almost. "But at the moment, I don't have anywhere safer to keep them."

"There are seven of us now." James spoke, sitting down next to her. "We can each hold one, keep them from destroying you."

"No." Maia snapped, her eyes widening. "None of you are touching any of the horcruxes. I'm all too familiar with what they can do to a person."

"And we're watching that happen to you Maia." James frowned, placing a hand on her arm. "None of us want to see you break like this, and you're forcing us to."

"I told you about my friend, about how it forced him away." Maia frowned. "I don't want any of you to go through that. I'm strong enough."

"Whether you have the strength or not, you don't have to." James frowned. "The reason you brought us together was to help you find and destroy the things that are making you like this, that are breaking you. We've helped find them, and we'll help you destroy them, but we won't help you destroy yourself in the process."

"My answer is no." Maia spoke, her expression stern. She turned back to her books, leaning her head on her hand as she flicked lazily through the pages.

James huffed and walked away, approaching the rest of the circle, all of whom were worried. He simply shook his head, walking past them. They had hoped that he would be able to convince her, especially after he convinced Regulus and Severus that he could do it, that he could help her.

"We need to go to McGonagall." Severus sighed, a slight shrug to his shoulders.

"You know why we can't." Lily whispered, her eyes widening.

"All I know is that Maia is starving herself looking for an answer she already has." He argued. "She knows exactly what she can destroy those things with but she needs a new answer, one that won't risk any of us getting killed and that's never going to happen. There has to be a risk to destroying them otherwise there would be no point in creating one."

"We still can't go to McGonagall." Remus noted, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"You don't have to, but I can." Severus decided, pushing past them.

"I'll try something else." Regulus sighed, turning to look at Maia as she pushed a book away, running her hands over her face.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Regulus had spoken with Madam Pomfrey, leaving out any of the potentially vow breaking information, simply telling her that a friend of his was struggling to sleep and was too embarrassed to ask the woman herself. He didn't try to convince the older woman that he wasn't hiding something, knowing that she wouldn't believe him, but she gave him several small vials regardless, the woman most likely having an idea of who it was that refused help. After all, she had dealt with Maia in her care more than once, both times with the girl leaving before the healer was happy with her recovery.

It was a very slytherin idea of his, to slip some dreamless sleep into her tea, especially if she noticed, but he was out of ideas, and unlike Severus, didn't want their new headmistress knowing about their mission. He hadn't liked Dumbledore knowing, but at least the older man understood that they couldn't simply stand by and do nothing.

He'd arranged with Lily and Remus to come up with a way to trick Maia into at least sleeping, whether or not they could get her beaded bag away from her. They would simply offer to help her read, in her room of course so that Regulus could be with them, and with some trickery, they would hopefully get her to drink some tea containing the potion. It wasn't a particularly hard plan to execute, but they were trying to trick Maia, who was a lot more observant than most, even with her lack of sleep.

"No." Maia deadpanned, bringing a swift roadblock into their pan. "I know you're all worried but I'm not, because I know where my limit is, and believe me, I haven't reached it."

"How long did you spend with the last one around your neck?" Lily asked, barely able to draw her attention from the large bags under Maia's eyes.

"Months." Maia shrugged. "At least. We weren't very good at keeping track of time."

"So you think you can deal with this for months?" She asked, a rather accusatory look in her eyes. "You want to deal with this weight for months to what? Prove that you're strong enough this time. If Riddle were to walk in right now, would you be able to fight him? Do you think you'd be able to kill him? Because I certainly don't."

"I don't matter in this equation." Maia pleaded. "All that matters is that you all survive and have kids and be happy."

"That's not what the prophecy says." Lily reminded her. "You have to kill him, and you can't do that if you don't sleep." She placed a hand on Maia's, her eyes dewy. "You have to trust us."

"It's not about trust." Maia choked, her own eyes gathering tears. "It's about protecting you. Keeping the horcruxes from doing to you what they're doing to me."

"We have to do what we can." Regulus spoke up. "That was the vow all of us made, and we're not going to let you force them to break."

"You'll want them gone within a day." Maia deadpanned, handing her beaded bag to Regulus. "I don't care who carries them, just not Lily." She spoke, turning to the redhead who looked ready to argue. "It's not that I don't think you're strong enough, I just don't want you to have to be."

"I'm sure James will make sure she doesn't." Remus smiled, looking out of the window toward Hagrid's hut. "Go out to your willow, have a conversation, think up a plan." He suggested. "You look like you could use it."

"Indeed she does." Professor McGonagall announced from behind the group, startling all but Maia. "I'd like to have a conversation with all of you first. Gather the others." She frowned, sweeping toward her new office. "You won't need the password, the gargoyle will know that you've been summoned."

Remus nodded, not bothering to be subtle with whispering a small spell to his arm, watching as the symbols lit up. He knew McGonagall couldn't see them, but he was certain that she knew it was there, after all, Severus had announced that he was going to speak to the headmistress. "They'll be here in a few minutes." He spoke, a frown affixed on his face.

"Good." McGonagall nodded, leading them up and into the office where they stood, rather sheepishly, waiting the few minutes for James and Sirius to arrive. When they eventually did, the Headmistress' pursed lipped expression did not fade, she simply stared at the seven students in front of her, as if she were deciding what to do with them.

"Before you say anything Professor." Regulus spoke up. "We're all of age."

"While that may be true, you are all still students." She began, taking a seat at her desk. "And I'm sure some of you weren't of age when this all started. Though I would like to know what that is. Mister Snape wasn't willing to share any details."

"We all made an unbreakable vow to keep our knowledge from anyone who would damage our cause." Snape informed the woman, keeping his expression blank.

"And I would damage it?" McGonagall asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Unfortunately Professor." Maia nodded. "You'd force us to stop, which is something none of us are willing to do. Something we can't do."

"Was Professor Dumbledore privy to this information?" She asked, pursing her lips.

"Yes, he was the first to know." Maia answered, straightening her back slightly. "And Regulus found out shortly after I arrived. The others came into the fold at different times, and all of them made a vow before I shared with them any information. Everyone but Dumbledore and Regulus, who made a vow along with myself. We can't tell you anything Professor, no matter how you ask or what you threaten."

"Very well." McGonagall frowned, standing up from her chair. "I suppose I'll just have to enter into this vow."

"Are you sure?" Maia questioned, raising an eyebrow of her own. "You wouldn't have any more power to stop us then you do now. You would just know why."

"I am your headmistress and it is my charge to keep my students safe and healthy, something I cannot do if I do not know why my students are risking their lives." She responded, moving to stand in front of Maia.

"You already know some of what I have to do." Maia frowned. "You've heard the prophecy, you know that no amount of power will keep myself and Riddle from meeting, will keep one of us from dying."

"And yet, I'm asking." The woman replied, holding her arm out to Maia.

"Very well, Regulus can guide you through the same vow we've all made." She nodded, clasping the professor's arm.

Regulus drew his wand, beginning the incantation with a hesitant nod to Maia.

"I, Maia Germain, vow to keep all knowledge I learn a secret from those who would harm our mission and vow to protect all of those joined in this endeavour in all ways I can." She spoke, nodding to Regulus, who continued the rest of the incantation.

"I, Minerva McGonagall, vow to keep all I learn a secret and vow to do what I can to aid and protect any of my students who embark on this mission." She replied, not needing to be prompted.

The vow ended, with a ninth symbol joining the others, and a still unhappy pair of witches clasping arms.

"I'd like your explanation now." McGonagall urged, releasing Maia's arm.

"Well Professor." Maia smiled slightly. "What do you know about horcruxes?"

 **AN- I just realised that I haven't written out all of the symbols in the circle so I thought I'd share them now.**

 **Phoenix - Dumbledore**

 **Hourglass - Maia**

 **Fox - Regulus**

 **Full moon - Remus**

 **Pawprint - Sirius**

 **Hoofprint - James**

 **Lily petal - Lily**

 **Asphodel - Severus**

 **Cat's eye - McGonagall**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Maia didn't like that McGonagall was privy to their secret, even if she had taken an unbreakable vow. She trusted the professor immensely, she just didn't trust that she would let them continue with their mission, which she most certainly wanted to do. She found herself more paranoid than ever, struggling to focus on the NEWT revision she was behind on, something McGonagall had reminded them of. Maia had been over all of the information before and wasn't particularly enjoying studying like she used to. It seemed like a waste of energy, especially considering the threat that was looming over them. Riddle couldn't be defeated on a whim, she needed to prepare, to do anything but study Herbology.

But she unfortunately had promised to study in exchange for taking her exams early, in a mere month to be exact. She'd even offered the same to Regulus, who seemed to be in over his head a little, especially when he took a glance at the seventh year curriculum. They had all been removed from their classes, spending all of their time in the library, something that made Lily very happy. A few days in, Maia reminded Regulus of the little advantage he had. He simply had to read through the information once, make a few notes and then could call on the memories as needed thanks to legilimency, though it was a little harder to do with your own mind. Maia had begun learning when Harry was taught by Professor Snape, finding it rather advantageous when it came to exams to have superior control over one's mind and thoughts.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we're doing this." Regulus began closing his book. "But I don't see why we have to. We're not going to be attacking Riddle the day after we finish our exams."

"No, but they are a distraction." Maia explained for what felt like the hundredth time. "Without having to put any energy into our school work we can spend more time focusing on taking down Riddle."

"And it was McGonagall's condition for letting us." Severus mumbled, barely looking up from his potions book, scribbling in the margins.

"We just have to pass and from what she said, we're being tested on the things we have already covered, minus Regulus of course." Remus shrugged. "We're far more likely to pass this early exam than we would the one at the end of the year."

"Yes, because we don't have to learn as much information." Sirius rolled his eyes. "We've had this conversation far too much."

"I already know most of this." James complained. "We had to go through all of these books in our fourth year to create the map."

"And you only have to spend a few more weeks looking over it and we'll be free to hunt down the slimy bastard." Lily frowned, trying to focus on her book.

"He's not slimy." Maia commented. "Not even in my future. From what I understand it he still looks human, for now at least."

With no more complaints they worked for weeks, quietly exchanging information, until the day cam where they would take their first of many exams, with most of the content being condensed from several exams into one, which was rather nice for their examiners to do, especially considering the ministry was issuing the tests for them. They were marched to one of the empty classrooms and didn't move for what felt like forever, only leaving to take practical exams, their lunch being delivered straight to the classroom. Apparently the ministry didn't want them exchanging information until the exams were complete.

They went on like that for what felt like weeks but in reality was only two days, with the seven students wishing they hadn't said anything to McGonagall, wishing they hadn't even let her make her vow in the first place. The more they all thought about it they realised how little they had been bothered about making such a vow, as if it were a simple accio charm, which it definitely was not. But the vow ensured that their information was secret as more than once they felt their throats close, unable to continue talking whenever someone walked within ear shot, which could only be an advantage.

"I'm glad we don't have to even look at another exam." James sighed loudly, lounging on Maia's bed one evening, ignoring the weight on his stomach that was Sirius' head. "I don't think I'll be able to even read a book for weeks."

"Unfortunately that won't be an option." Maia sighed, curling up in her chair. "We'll be reading through every book ever printed until we can find another way to destroy the horcruxes."

"Or you could just let me do it." Severus shrugged, leaning against the side of the chair Lily was sat in, apparently enjoying sitting on the floor. "Since you refused to tell us how to destroy them, admittedly with good reason, I went and asked Professor Slughorn. I pulled on his heart strings, which wasn't too hard and managed to squeeze the location of a certain book out of him, and the note I needed to go into the restricted section to find it."

"And you want to what?" Maia asked, seemingly a little skeptical. "We aren't going to risk anyone's lives fighting a basilisk. And that's if I even remember the parseltongue right."

"Basilisk?" Lily asked, her voice rising slightly. "Please tell me you haven't tried to take it on since you got here."

"No I haven't." Maia smiled. "I'm not that stupid."

"But I can use fiendfyre to destroy them." Severus smiled, rather smugly in Maia's opinion.

"And that would risk alerting him that they're destroyed and he'll just make more before I face him." Maia rolled her eyes. "We need to train and plan before we can even think of luring him out. Professor McGonagall will be introducing us to the Order over the holidays and we could use their support, even if it's just to distract his death eaters."

"If you knew how to destroy them then why would you put yourself through a week of torture?" Regulus asked, rather annoyed with the idea.

"Because either option could get one of you killed." Maia frowned. "Admittedly I didn't know that Severus could cast fiendfyre safely but that's not the point. I didn't want someone dying to destroy them, it already happened once both in this time and my future." Maia spoke, glancing at Regulus who lowered his head. "I don't want anyone else dying this time around."

"We understand that but none of us want you to die for us." Sirius yelled, quickly escalating the argument. "I may not have been ripped from everything I've ever known and thrust into a world with the weight of both the present and the future on my shoulders, but that doesn't mean you have to die for any of this. You didn't even have to start it, no matter what you feel. And you sure as hell don't have to do it alone."

"That's enough Sirius." Remus warned him, noticing Maia's slightly blank expression. They may not have known her long, but he knew that she was finally understanding what they meant.

"I don't think it is." Sirius continued. "You've already saved my brother, you've saved Snape from what I'm sure would have been a very lonely life. You managed to keep Peter from his fate too. You don't need to do anything else for us, you need to start doing it for yourself and trying to protect is from the horcruxes and from the only things that can destroy them is not going to fix the future. It's not going to end this war. After everything you've told us about you and your friend, I've come to understand that we need to work together on this, not just be dragged behind Maia Germain as she tried to get herself killed."

"I'm well aware of all of that Sirius." Maia spoke, her voice surprisingly calm. "But all of you are dead in the future. I saw some of you die in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I do trust you, all of you, but the further from death I can keep you, the better I'll sleep at night."

"You sound just like him you know." Severus commented, knowing that Maia would understand his meaning, even if the other Gryffindors wouldn't. "He tried to hold the fate of the world on his shoulders alone and I'm sorry to use this against you but he died. Learn from his mistakes and understand that you can't do any of this alone. We're going to be standing right beside you when you fight Riddle. Screw the prophecy."

"He's right." The eerie voice spoke in the back of Maia's mind. The same voice she remembered from the cave. "I need you at that battle."

"I wish you weren't you sometimes." Maia sighed, curling even deeper into her chair.

"We're in this to the end, Maia." Severus smiled, walking to sit on the arm of her chair. "None of us are going to let you change that. We made a vow remember."

"Yeah I do." Maia smiled, placing a hand on Severus'. "As much as I wish you hadn't right now."

"We didn't have to." Lily reminded her. "We could have walked away, but we didn't, and we won't."

A few days later brought the beginning of the christmas break and the end of their time at Hogwarts, which everyone but Maia was sad about. She'd left the castle behind once before and she couldn't help but notice how easy it was this time, almost like she hadn't really been back. They were bid goodbye at the feast, which most of the students seemed confused about and the next morning they were in Hogsmeade, preparing to apparate to the Potter home. Severus and Regulus felt rather awkward about the whole affair, while Maia was just glad they wouldn't be living in a tent for the next countless months it would take for them to end the war.

"Mum knows you're all coming and honestly, I think she's a little too excited." James admitted, twirling his wand in his hand. "Dad's in St Mungo's right now so I think she's just glad to have company." He added with a frown.

Sirius took his friend's hand and Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's going to be okay." They reassured him, nodding to the others who seemed a little taken aback by James' honesty.

"I'll be apparating with Maia and Lily, Sirius can take Regulus and Remus can take Snape." James announced with a cough. "I don't particularly want you trying to apparate to a place you've never been. It hasn't ended well for me in the past."

Maia simply nodded, holding James' trunk with one hand, placing her other in his. "Let's head out then."

The others all gathered with their appointed apparator, smiling a little when Remus and Severus begrudgingly took each others' hands. With a crack, they were all on the lawn of the Potter residence, though it was a grand manor surrounded by grassland and forest, somewhere in the south judging by the lack of snow at their feet.

The manor was not unlike the Malfoy manor Maia had visited in what she now called her previous life, though the stone was not white but a hearty golden brown, which immediately seemed to soothe her a little from her initial panic.

"Now I understand why you offered for us to stay with you." Regulus commented with a look at his brother, a sly smile on his face. "You got an upgrade Sirius."

"Trust me, anything is an upgrade from that hellhole." He commented, walking toward the house with James, leading the others to the front door, which in Maia's opinion was rather ostentatious for a family described as homely and modest. But she supposed that with a home as old as it looked they wouldn't have had their opinion taken into account by its designer.

James didn't knock but pushed open the door, a large smile on his face. The interior smelled like baked bread and cinnamon, something akin to the Burrow Maia barely remembered. The one thing she remembered vividly was the smell of something, anything really, baking in the oven, filling the home with a warm, comforting scent. The colour palate was very different to the Weasley's home, especially because the Weasleys didn't have one. Rich reds and browns greeted them, though the green splashed throughout the warm colouring seemed rather fitting, considering the two slytherins joining the household.

"James." A voice called, echoing from somewhere deep in the house. A rather short woman rushed through a corridor toward them, her hair greying. She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his chest as he loomed over her. "It's good to have you home." She smiled warmly, turning to Sirius and pulling him into a hug. "Both of my boys." She turned to the rest of the people standing in her entry, giving a warm smile to Remus. "I've heard a lot about you all." She began, her eyes narrowing slightly at Regulus and Severus.

"We're very grateful for your hospitality." Regulus smiled, a sincerness to his eyes as he shook the woman's hand. "It's lovely to meet the woman who's looked after my brother."

James' mother seemed to warm to him, smiling a little at his words. "From what I hear you're all doing something rather important, though he refuses to tell me what."

"That would be my fault." Maia smiled sheepishly, astounded by how much the woman seemed to bring forth her memories of Mrs Weasley. "We all promised to keep our endeavour a secret." She explained.

"I suppose that's not such a bad thing nowadays." The woman smiled, laughing slightly. "I'm Euphemia Potter, James' mother." She introduced herself.

Names were exchanged with polite smiles and handshakes and they were all ushered from the foyer and into a large sitting room, their trunks being dealt with by the house elves the Potters had in their employ, something that made Maia frown slightly. Draco had managed to convince her that freeing all of the house elves wasn't something all of them wanted, but better treatment was still a valiant endeavor.

Remus seemed to notice her frown and chuckled slightly. "Those house elves may as well be her kids." He smiled, keeping his voice low. "I swear they're more spoiled than James."

Maia seemed a little soothed by the knowledge and smiled to Remus, trailing at the back of the group as they made their way to sit with James' mother.

"Can you tell me anything of why Professor McGonagall told me you wouldn't be returning after the holidays?" Euphemia asked, apparently having not been told by James.

"We were allowed to finish our schooling early." Maia answered rather skillfully twisting from any knowledge of their task. "We're being asked for help with a certain task." She seemed to twist the truth skillfully, giving the woman enough information to sate her interest but keep their vow intact.

"I need to pull some bread from the oven." Euphemia announced, standing from her seat. "Do excuse me."

"That woman looks like she's not going to let this drop." Severus commented once she was out of the room.

"Well, we're not telling my mother anything." James spoke rather seriously. "She'll be worse than McGonagall."

"Don't worry James." Lily smiled. "I don't think we were planning to."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Living at the Potter's was a strange feeling, waking up in the morning, being in a bed and not having to get up for classes she didn't particularly care about, working to destroy horcruxes and not be in a tent, constantly moving, it was a big change for Maia, one she wasn't sure she was handling well. She went from school mode to being back in her fugitive mode, keeping a pair of easily slipped on trainers next to her bed, sleeping with her wand in her hand and her beaded bag securely strapped over her chest. She was in flight mode. She woke at the smallest of sounds, wand at the ready and barely managed to slip back into sleep afterward. Being in Hogwarts, the familiarity of the school, had snapped her out of the habits, but not well enough she summarised. She was far more panicked than she had been in months and it was painfully obvious to the other residents of the house.

Regulus and Severus had been the ones to talk to her about it, given that they had experienced, admittedly through legilimency, the panic they knew she was feeling. They had begun taking it in turns sleeping next to her, soothing her as she woke and helping her drift back into sleep with the knowledge that she wasn't alone and she was with people she could trust. She and Harry had done that a lot after Ron left them, though they quickly stopped when he returned, knowing that they didn't want to deal with any questions, especially after Harry shared what the horcrux had shown the ginger boy. They knew he was still fragile, even after having the time away from the horcrux they held around their necks, and didn't want him to break. The way Maia was beginning to break.

One morning, after an unrestful evening for Maia and Severus, Euphemia had walked into her room to wake up who she assumed would be an alone Maia, raising an eyebrow at the second clothed body in her bed, sharing different sheets. She left them alone, walking back down to breakfast and asking one of the younger occupants of the house to wake the pair up. Regulus volunteered, leaving the very confused Gryffindors to speculate on what he knew was a completely innocent situation.

"Maia, Severus." He spoke, shaking the pair's shoulders. "You're late for breakfast." He spoke, a rather awkward smile on his face.

"I suppose we've got some explaining to do." Maia rolled her eyes, already awake and alert. She no longer cared what state of undress she was seen in, quickly changing into fresh clothes, courtesy of the late Professor Dumbledore, and cast her usual morning charms, looking as well put together as she always did, though the bags under her eyes couldn't be removed with a simple charm. She needed a long, uninterrupted night's rest to get rid of those.

She and Regulus made their way down to breakfast while Severus went to his own room to change. As she walked into the room, the four looks she received only made her roll her eyes while she poured herself a cup of tea.

"So you and Snape." Sirius spoke, looking down into his own cup, a very awkward look on his face.

"No, not me and Severus actually." She replied, her usual smirk on her face. "He and Regulus have been attempting to help me sleep at night."

The four Gryffindors spluttered into their tea and various breakfast foods, their eyes going wide. Euphemia however, simply sat with a smile on her face, already having a better idea of what was going on with the nymph and her two Slytherin friends than the four sputtering at the table.

"I believe Maia is simply telling you that they have been staying in her room to calm her when she wakes up at night." Euphemia smiled, taking a sip of her own tea. "They were both fully clothed."

"I'm confused mother." James frowned. "They were sleeping in the same bed together and you're just okay with it?"

"She has been waking rather frequently in the night since she got here." Euphemia shrugged. "I'd assume that you don't want to take a dreamless sleep potion due to the same reason you can't sleep."

"And what reason is that?" Sirius asked, an eyebrow raised. He didn't seem to happy with his former enemy sharing a bed with their unofficial leader.

"Paranoia." Euphemia smiled, noting the deep frown that came over Maia's face. "I don't mean to belittle what she is feeling but she is paranoid that someone is going to attack in the night."

The four simply turned to stare at Maia, rather confused by the mother's accurate evaluation of the situation. Maia simply avoided their looks and began to gingerly eat a slice of toast, glad for the presence of Regulus' hand on her own.

"But you're safe here." Lily spoke, seemingly perplexed by the idea.

"I know." Maia bit back, quickly rising from the table and leaving the room.

"Allow me dear." Euphemia smiled, patting Regulus' shoulder as he made to leave the room.

She found Maia sat outside, a tear rolling down her cheek. She sniffed and wiped the tear away, shaking her head. She knew they wouldn't be able to understand, no matter how much she spoke to them. It was something you had to experience, the crippling fear of being found, the stress and anxiety that came with constantly looking over your shoulder, and the feeling of a horcrux around your neck, heightening the already immobilizing fear. Even Severus and Regulus would never be able to truly understand, though they had a better view of the effect it had on her.

"There's no shame in it dear." Euphemism smiled, sitting down next to Maia. "Things take time, especially when you've spent a long time scared ."

"Believe me, it wasn't just fear." Maia rolled her eyes, wiping them again. "Every sound could mean that they'd found us. We moved around a lot. Spent a long time hiding. But no matter what we did, no matter how we warded our camp, the feeling wouldn't go away."

"How long?" The smiling woman asked, nothing seeming to phase her.

"Months at least." Maia shrugged. "You start to lose track of the days."

"I won't force you, but I can give you something to help you sleep." Euphemia suggested, placing a hand on Maia's knee. "But you have to get comfortable first, let that feeling start to fade to the back of your mind."

"I'm not sure that's going to happen." Maia spoke, tears coming to her eyes. Oh how she wished she had her willow, to curl up in his branches and let the hurt fade away. "I have to be strong. I have so much weight on my shoulders and I have no way of stepping back. Not yet."

"Isn't that why you gathered your friends?" Euphemia smiled. Seemingly knowing the deeper meanings in everything. "Not just for intellectual help, but emotional. Regulus, that sweet boy, did you simply ask for his intellect or his capability for compassion?"

"I honestly don't know." Maia frowned, suddenly questioning every decision she had made over the last months.

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about doing anything alone anymore." Euphemia smiled, patting Maia's arm as a goodbye, walking back into the house.

Maia spent the rest of the day ignoring her friend's questions and worried glances, instead delving into her favourite book, Hogwarts a History, the one thing that kept her sane during her time on the run. She knew it would take time, a lot of time, to finally free herself from the chains that followed her from her last life, but she knew it would be worth it in the end. She needed to protect her friends, no matter what the cost. None of them would die this time. She made herself a vow, one she knew the universe would hold her to. None of them would die for her. They would all move on and live long happy lives. She couldn't stop them from fighting, but she would sure as hell do all that she could to keep them from dying.

She had to.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Their first meeting with the Order was coming fast and Maia was beginning to worry. Despite her arrival in the past at eighteen, she looked considerably younger than her friends, most likely due to the change in her blood she undertook and she hadn't aged a day since, making look no older than fifteen at the most. It was odd for her to look into a mirror, which is why she didn't unless she absolutely had to, choosing to rely on her charms to make to look her presentable. She doubted that she would be taken seriously by the Order, especially when she was announced to be the leader of her group of early graduated students. She just hoped that she could prove her worth, preferably quickly, especially one they heard the prophecy made about her, they need to believe that she could take care of herself, that she was most likely a better dueler than half of them.

The others seemed excited, glad to be a bigger part of the war than simple and relatively safe taks. They wanted to fight, it was painfully obviously. After their first battle their eagerness would fade. Severus and Regulus appeared to understand that idea and seemed far less destructive than the gryffindors in their circle, there was still a part of them that itched to fight, though for a different reason. They had something to prove, to the Order, to the marauders and to Maia, though she decided not to tell them that she noticed.

The meeting was being held at the Potter home, for Maia's safety. They were reasonably certain that he would have figured out that the nymph girl who suddenly woke up from a coma was the girl in the prophecy, should he have found out about it, and they couldn't be too sure that she would be spotted moving around hogsmeade to reach the location they had used for their first few meetings. The hog's head, while out of the way, was still too far in the open for McGonagall's liking and she had assured Maia that the members would understand the change once they had met her and been caught up to speed.

As night fell, Maia could feel her nerves building to an almost unbearable level. She hadn't eaten all day and if it weren't for the new blood running through her veins she was certain she would be ready to pass out. She could hear people flooing into the property from the library next door and it seemed to calm her nerves somewhat, the quiet chatter and whoosh of flame filling the silence, though not enough given the ever present need to vomit and or run from the house screaming, though she was sure both Euphemia and McGonagall wouldn't be too happy about that.

A tentative knock on the door and the entering of Regulus made Maia certain that it was time to face the gathered men and women currently in the manor's dining room. Without a word, Regulus took Maia's hand, lacing his fingers with hers, and they walked into the room together, Maia seeming to hold her breath. Some turned to glance at the people entering, double taking at the green skin and strikingly young face. Most of them however sat muttering with each other, oblivious to their presence. There were at least thirty people in the room, not including Maia and her circle members, a number much larger than Maia recalled from her time, though they most likely suffered losses before they took the photograph Harry had placed on the mirror in the room of requirement. She wondered which ones they would be. Some of them sat while others stood in groups leaning against the walls, others standing by those seated. Maia joined her friends at the back of the room, opposite where McGonagall was sat, all of them standing awkwardly as they looked around their soon to be brothers and sisters in arms.

"As you know, I've permanently moved our meeting place to Potter Manor." McGonagall spoke, immediately drawing the attention of the crowd. "We have gained several new members, all recently having passed their NEWTs thanks to an early testing Miss Bones was able to arrange." She nodded briefly to a strawberry blonde woman in the corner who nodded politely back. "They have been doing what they can to help bring down Riddle from inside the school but have reached the point where they can no longer continue to advance."

The gathered men and women turned their attention to the teens in the back of the room, most of them highly interested in the girl with pale green skin.

"How old are some of those kids?" A man Maia recognised as Alistar Moody asked gruffly, his eyes and legs intact.

"They are all of age." McGonagall assured him, though Moody simply raised an eyebrow at Maia.

"I may look young but technically I'm twenty." She smirked, knowing that Moody didn't like surprises. Moody simply grunted and returned his attention to McGonagall who continued.

"We can give out names later, though one of our new recruits is the reason of our change of location." McGonagall spoke, clearly having a hard time dancing around the vow.

"Share what you need to Professor." Maia nodded to the older woman. "The vow shouldn't stop you anymore."

McGonagall smiled appreciatively, though a lot of eyebrows raised at her words. "Our half nymph friend has recently found herself the subject of a particularly harrowing prophecy detailing Riddle. And as such, she is the only one of us who will be able to strike a finishing blow."

A murmur filled the room, many of the men and women liking what they had heard, though Moody seemed to simply nod to Maia. From what she could gather, he must have respected her unwillingness in the face of what he assumed would be certain death. He was much easier to read with both eyes and she could tell that he wanted to use legilimency on her the second he could get the chance. Maia moved to the empty seat next to him.

"If you want to look, you'd better be prepared to make an unbreakable vow." Maia whispered, not taking her eyes off McGonagall. "And you'll have to break through my mental walls first."

"No looking." He muttered, turning his attention back to the woman speaking.

"I know you all want a better explanation than I can give, but I have made a vow with Miss Germain to keep many of the rather dangerous details to myself, as have her friends. They will not share with you any more than I will, than I can." McGonagall continued, putting some rather sour looks on several faces. "What I can share, is that she has gathered and is preparing to destroy several very dangerous artifacts that are extremely valuable to Riddle and that we will be able to advance our assault on him once they have been disposed of. We won't have to wear away at his forces like we had planned, no more year long assaults. With any luck he could be dead by the end of the school year."

Many of the order members perked up at this information, still relatively curious about where this information had come from and how they could be sure that it was true. None of them wanted Riddle to live a second longer than he had to, but they weren't prepared to place their trust in a girl who barely looked old enough to take her OWLs, a girl they had just found out existed.

"May I?" Maia asked the Professor, a knowing look on her face.

McGonagall nodded and Maia stood, taking a few steps back from her seat. "You don't trust me yet, and I don't expect you to. But you need to know that I have spent years fighting Riddle. I spent my entire childhood fighting him and I have lost everyone I ever loved to him. I don't plan on letting their sacrifice be for nothing.

"You may not know me, but I know a lot more about some of you than you realise. You don't just want him dead, you want your families safe and you just want to spend even a few months in peace. All of you would give your lives for that and in some ways I already have. So you don't have to trust me, you just have to believe that I can and will end this." She spoke, captivating the attention of many of the people in the room. "Alone if I have to." She added, noting the approving nod Moody seemed to be unconsciously doing.

Maia felt the overwhelming tugging in her gut once more and made for the door, nodding to McGonagall and her friends, suddenly wanting to go the rest of the way alone. She knew her friends would try to follow her to the end of her crusade, which was what it had become, but she could easily end the war without them, even if she died in the process. Even as she walked away, preparing to go it alone, she heard footsteps follow her, too heavy to be anyone she recognised. There was something familiar to the sound, something that told her she should know whoever was following.

"I'm not letting a kid do this alone." The ever familiar gruff voice called, stopping Maia in her tracks. She didn't jump like he was expecting, she simply turned and gave him a tired look.

"I've been hearing that a lot lately." She spoke, wondering what had sparked him to leave the meeting. Moody had never been one for comforting others, or even offering a pep talk. He seemed to be defying the memory of the ex-auror she knew.

"Who trained you?" He asked suddenly, an eyebrow raising once again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She smiled weakly, a breathy chuckle leaving her lips. "And I'm pretty sure you'd be more wary of me if you knew."

"I think I know more about you than you want to let on." Moody spoke, narrowing his eyes as he stepped closer. "Afterall, I passed the prophecy on to McGonagall."

"And what is it you think you know?" Maia asked weakly.

"For starters you didn't exist until a year ago." He began, his suspicion showing. "And you apparently went by a name that also doesn't exist, which could mean one of a few things. You were never registered with the ministry before you changed names, both names are fake, or you aren't from here."

"You're right, I'm not from here." She smiled. "I was raised in a forest deep in the heart of France." Maia spouted her cover story, already knowing he wouldn't believe her.

"And then there's that odd letter I found while investigating Dumbledore's death." He continued. "Sent from the future of all places. That one was rather hard to work out, especially when the charms on it were truly masterful."

"So you think I'm what?" She lied. "From the future?"

"Oh I know you are, and you just proved it." He frowned, his eyes narrowing even further. "So why would you go to all of the trouble travelling back in time to change the future, to risk making the world you knew worse?"

"You tell me. You seem to have all of the answers."

"Because whoever sent that letter was the one who sent you back. You were probably one of several people they were thinking of sending to the past." Moody continued. "Or someone else knew his plan and decided to save you instead of sending someone else they had planned, someone older and far easier to trust."

"What do you want me to do?" Maia asked, an aggravated smile on her face. "Confirm everything you've just said, or to deny it and tell you my whole life story?"

"I just need you to stay right there for another second." He smirked before Maia felt a heavy force begin to assault her mind, a hand clutching tightly to her wrist to prevent her from running away. She pushed back, trying with all of her strength to push out the intruder until once again she felt the all too familiar rush of memories, far more painful than the last time it had happened.

Behind the flashes she could hear several shouts, like she was underwater and someone was calling her name from the surface. But she was trapped, watching her life play out before her eyes for a second, very unwelcome time. She could feel the bile rising in her throat, passing over her tongue as she felt her knees go weak. Severus had been quick, rather painless too, but Moody was going through each of her memories with a brutal attentiveness, catching every detail she knew Severus and Regulus had missed.

And then she was released, finding herself on her knees before the auror, vomiting once again. "I hate legilimency." She croaked, her breathing fast and heavy. "Fuck you."

"I don't like you." He frowned, seemingly unaffected by the sight of the girl on the ground or the group of very angry teenagers moving to surround her.

"The feelings mutual." She spat, allowing herself to lean against whichever body was helping her stay upright. "Ever think that maybe someone doesn't want you shuffling through their mind?" She asked, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"You'd better have a good reason for that Alistar." McGonagall spoke, apparently having left the meeting also.

"Wouldn't matter if I had one or not." He shrugged. "I'm not making a vow to that girl."

"It's that or I obliviate you?" McGonagall growled. Maia was suddenly glad for her being brought into the fold. She knew the woman could be scary when she wanted to be.

"You're insane Minerva." He spoke back. "I am not going to promise anything to a girl that already lost a war against the man we're already struggling against."

Maia suddenly became angry, a new wave of energy sweeping over her as she stood, her eyes seeing red. She wasted no time throwing the nastiest curses she could at the man who for once wasn't prepared for an onslaught. He dropped to the ground faster than the others realised and Maia was already stood above him, wand pointed between his eyes.

"You should know better than that Alistar." Maia spoke venomously. "I was taught by a death eater in my fourth year, and believe me, most of us still thought the was an extremely good teacher after we found out." She hadn't noticed the crowd of people spilling out of the dining room, she was too focused on sending her message to the arrogant auror. "I may have been hesitant to use dark curses back then but living through a war teaches you not to be so selective about what spells you use. The death eaters certainly weren't." She knelt down in front of him, her voice low and cold. "If you even think about going through my mind again, I will not hesitate to kill you."

With that Maia stood, suddenly noticing the crowd of people watching and the particularly horrified look on the face of a man she knew well. Arthur Weasley had just witnessed her attack Moody, a man most thought to be invincible. She hadn't wanted her first impression to be so violent but she wouldn't be too torn up about it. She'd had enough people pick through her mind in the last year and she certainly wasn't happy that he had done it so venomously.

"I think I'll have to do this alone Professor." She spoke, turning to McGonagall. "He's not getting the option to make an unbreakable vow. Just obliviate him and dump him in an alley somewhere." Maia seemed suddenly distant as she moved through the parted crowd and up the stairs to where her beaded bag sat. She hadn't wanted it in the meeting, something she was becoming increasingly glad for. Alistar Moody was very different in her future, he was a man who wouldn't have pushed into her mind at all, let alone with the brutality the younger man had done. Even though she was angry, she had made up her mind.

She was destroying the horcruxes the second she was out of the manor, even if she didn't know how to control the fiendfyre, and she would be calling Riddle out for a duel in the morning.

And she was going to kill him.

 **AN- So that just happened. At first I hadn't wanted Moody to use legilimency on her, as it is becoming a rather frequent occurrence in this story, but for some reason as I wrote the scene I had to put it in, if only to push Maia to the brink. I promise there will be no more legilimency and that I will not be ending things as soon as you think.**

 **As always I would love to hear what you think.**

 **Amyx**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Maia stop." Regulus begged as Maia began throwing her things haphazardly into her beaded bag.

She simply ignored him, continuing to clear out the room she had slowly begun to populate. She was nowhere near comfortable in the house but she was getting there and suddenly she had to leave. It felt more like the horcrux hunt than ever. She was in flight mode, and nothing was going to stop her from leaving. Not this time. She was done keeping people close to her, people she knew would get hurt. A small part of her reasoned that she would need help come her fight with Riddle but the angry part, the very large angry part, silenced the voice and continued packing, her body filling with adrenaline.

"Hermione." Regulus yelled, suddenly drawing Maia's attention. She hadn't been called the name in months, let alone by him. It felt foreign to be addressed that way.

"You can't convince me this time Reg." She breathed, angry tears threatening to pour down her cheeks. "No matter what you think you can do, there is _nothing_ that you can." She yelled back, her eyes slightly frantic.

"I need you." He admitted, throwing his arms out to his sides briefly. "I have no idea what you've done to me, but all I know is that I can't let you leave this house, not without me at the very least."

"I'm going to get you all killed." She sighed, turning back to her packing. "Even though I hate him, Moody has a point. I already fought this war and lost. I don't know what made me think I could do this all again and come out on the winning side, with the people I care about intact. I finally understand why Harry went into that forest alone." She began crying, saying the name of her best friend out loud for the first time. "He couldn't let anyone else die for him. And people have already for me." She spoke, her voice cracking. "The man I love died in front of my eyes and I pushed Dumbledore to that same fate by making him curious about the ring. Whether I'm twenty years in the future or here in the past people around me die."

"They didn't die for him." Regulus disagreed. "They died for the people they love, for a better world they needed their children to see. Their parents, their brothers and sisters and friends." He took a deep breath, taking a step closer to her. "And I'm sorry to say this Maia, but I would die for you in a heartbeat."

His hands were suddenly cupping her face as he pushed into her mind, not going through her memories, but showing her his.

 _They were sat in her room, back when it was just the two of them, quietly leafing through pages in their books. Or at least she was, he was studying her, watching for the crease in her eyebrow that meant she'd found something. Staring at the way her skin would seem to grow a warmer green when she got tired, her eyelids drooping. The way that one strand of her impossibly long hair would fall over her face, the way she would tuck it futilely behind her ear only for it to fall again when she tilted her head. The way her eyes would change from indigo to violet when she was captivated again, pulling herself out of her sleepiness and right back into attention._

 _And then they were at the lake, in the cave, watching as she writhed on the ground, her skin unbelievably pale, her cracked voice pleading for release from her torture. And he held cup after cup to her lips, ignoring Kreacher's wails as he did so, pushing past the desire to stop, to give up on their venture and allow her to breathe. Her eyes were clamped shut, but he knew that if they were open they would be the darkest of blue, the same shade they turn whenever she felt upset, whenever he knew she was longing to be back home. And still he kept returning to her side with more of the vile potion, her whimpers becoming harder and harder to bear as she sobbed. His heart broke in that very moment, the same moment that it opened up to her._

 _And then they were in the hospital wing, late at night, as he watched the light green hue return to her skin and the tear stains on her cheeks dry away into oblivion. He had left early that morning to talk with Dumbledore, but he still sat, holding her hand, running circles over the back of it with his thumb, tears beginning to stain his cheeks once again._

 _And he was rushing to her side as the phoenix burned red on their skin. She looked like her world was about to end, and he understood why. Dumbledore had always been a man she could turn to, especially in this time, where she only had a handful of people that she could trust. The crease set into her brow, her eyes became a dark blue and she was running, sprinting down the corridors to what they both knew would be to witness the death of a man she trusted more than anyone in this time. And yet she still ran and he was in awe, humbled and inspired by the unwavering strength in the girl that should have broken._

 _And they were in the very same room, though night was well upon them, and Maia lay peacefully in bed, while Regulus lay awake, staring thoughtfully at the strangely pure look on her face. The crease was still in her brow, like it had been for months, but there was no deep frown on her lips, no wrinkling of her nose, just a deep even breathing that blew that one ever falling strand of her from her face, only for it to fall back into its usual place. He brushed it away, his touch light, careful not to wake her._

" _Why did I have to fall in love with you?" He whispered, sighing deeply. He stared for a while longer before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You're safe here, Maia. I promise."_

And suddenly they were back, Maia staring at Regulus with a look he was sure he would never understand. She made to speak but he instead pressed a kiss to her lips, a tear falling down his cheek. "Stay. Please." He begged once more, his voice cracking, barely audible.

"Goodbye Regulus." She breathed, her own voice unsure of the words it was carrying. She pushed him back and with a crack she was gone.

And Regulus' heart broke again, falling to his knees as he sobbed, finally opening himself up to a reality he should have seen sooner. No matter what he did, no matter what he said, no matter what he felt, she would always love Draco Malfoy, and she would never have the room for him, not in the way he wished she could.

And it was even more obvious, she didn't want him. Not in the way he wanted her. And she certainly didn't want him at her side anymore. He had truly believed that he could change her mind, that he could be the person she desperately needed, the one she didn't know she did. She needed her own Hermione. Someone to balance out the very Harry like person she had become. But there was a problem. She was Maia Germain, and she was much better at pushing people away than Harry was.

 **AN- Sorry?**

 **I hadn't wanted there to be any romance when I started writing the story but I realised about four chapters ago that I had written Regulus with feelings for her, and Remus too. We'll delve deeper into that messiness in a later chapter but I'm not sure if I wrote this as well as I could have, but I kinda like the raw, unedited version of this. I think it fits the chapter rather well.**

 **I would love to hear what you think.**

 **Amyx**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN- So I have been completely terrified while writing this chapter, and way too scared to read GeekMom13's chapterly reviews for the last two. I have literally turned the internet off to finish it. I have no idea how any of you liked the last two chapters yet but I am well and truly past the point of no return. (NO BACKWARDS GLANCES!)**

 **Wish me luck.**

Chapter 20

Maia's plan hadn't gone too well. She had apparated away to the forest of dean, to the same stretch of woodland that she and Harry had hidden in. She still had the tent and set it up with a wave of her wand, placing the wards around her camp as if she had done it yesterday. But it was different this time. She was different. And she was alone. And she should have known that trying to destroy five horcruxes with a spell she had never used before wouldn't work. Even one of them fighting back was almost impossible to overcome, so what had made her think she could destroy all five at once she didn't know.

She immediately regretted leaving, especially after what Regulus had admitted to her, with a very eye opening barrage of memories. And that kiss. She didn't know what to make of that. She hadn't considered loving someone else, and suddenly she had Regulus stood before her, defenseless and strikingly honest and it had been what made her sure she had to leave. He admitted it himself. He would die for her, and she was certain that the burning red symbol on her forearm was his, she didn't need to look. She was well aware that the spell responded to emotional pain, something she wished wasn't true. She didn't need the glaring confirmation that she had hurt him, badly. She knew that she would the second he showed her his memories. But he was too close, too in love, for her to be able to talk any sense into. He would simply have to be kept at arm's length until she had dealt with Riddle and then she could try to see if she hadn't broken his heart so much that they couldn't return to their innocent, naive and oblivious friendship.

But the nagging sensation in the back of her mind told her that wouldn't be the case. She knew him well enough to see her leaving as rejection and not protection, and he would most likely move past her as swiftly as Ron had at the beginning of their sixth year and as swiftly as she had when she first found Draco in Myrtle's bathroom.

She spent days in the woods, practicing the fiendfyre incantation, perfecting the casting until she was sure she could control it. She did have her new genetic advantage to thank for that though she still wasn't happy with the four days she had to spend on it. If she was stronger, smarter, Riddle could have already been dead. And yet there she was, placing a shielding charm around twigs as she burnt them to a crisp.

She would test her progress on the locket first, the horcrux she hated the most. It took a lot more guts to even think of casting the spell once she had the horcrux laid out on the forest floor. She already knew what it would say, what it would use against her, she just didn't know if she was ready to face it.

"Alright Maia, it's been four days and I'm done waiting for you to tell us that you're okay." A voice yelled through the trees, a sarcastic voice she least expected to hear right as she prepared to cast one of the hardest spells she had yet to try.

"Severus?" She asked herself, glancing around the trees. She was suddenly regretting her impulsive choice in camp. She supposed she should have guessed that one of them would realise that she went back to such an important place during their horcrux hunt. She supposed that part of her was silently hoping that she could draw on Harry and Ron's courage.

"Let me into your damn wards you insolent witch." He yelled, his voice getting closer.

Maia sped toward his voice, the mere knowledge he was there somehow clearing her mind of the weight of the horcruxes she didn't know she had. She spotted him, right at the edge of her wards and reached an arm through, pulling him right into a tight hug. "I'm really happy to see you." She smiled, pulling out of their awkward hug. "But you shouldn't be here, I left so none of you would.

"And we made it very clear that we weren't going to let you do it alone." Severus spoke sternly. "I may not be the man who sent you here, but I still feel responsible for you. Just be glad I didn't bring the others."

Maia simply rolled her eyes and led Severus to her camp, staring daggers at the locket as she neared it.

"Having trouble?" Severus smiled, kneeling down to observe the locket and the ground around it. There were small pockets of ash, but none of them looked fresh. She'd at least practised first, that was something he supposed.

"You should know exactly why I'd hesitate." Maia frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Believe me, I remember." Severus frowned, having not enjoyed simply watching what a horcrux would do to survive. He wasn't too sure if he was prepared to see it first hand.

As Maia thought on it, she quickly began to realise that her hesitation wasn't purely from what she remembered. She knew he would feel them being destroyed, the more pieces of his soul he lost, the more likely it was that he would notice and she doubted her wards were strong enough to hold him back if he came looking for the person destroying them.

And then there was the guilt, that she had abandoned her friends like Ron had abandoned her. But she didn't leave because she was angry, though the argument could be made that she did. She wanted to keep the others safe, not herself and she was certain that Ron hadn't though his leaving would keep them safe.

And Regulus' last words to her were gnawing at her stomach. He had confessed his love for her, left himself defenceless in the hope that she would stay, that she would stay for him. And she hadn't. While she didn't love him in the way he loved her, though the love she had for him was the same she had for Severus and the others. But she knew that the fear that filled her when she saw him so raw, that had made her pull back all the more. She couldn't offer him what he was pleading for her to take. Her heart simply didn't belong to him.

"He's worried sick." Severus commented, apparently able to read her mind. "He wouldn't tell us what he said to you, just that you wouldn't let anyone else die for you. Which is just stupid."

"What?" Maia blurted, barely able to hold back the argument that wanted to erupt from her lips.

"You don't get to decide who cares about you." Severus spoke plainly, standing to face Maia. "And you sure as hell don't get to chose who dies for you."

"That doesn't change the fact that none of you should." She objected, apparently still not understanding.

"Would you have died for Harry or Draco?" Severus asked, knowing the wound would be especially raw.

"Of course I would." She almost yelled, as if it were painfully obvious.

"And would Harry or Draco want you to die for them? Choose for you to die so they could live?" He pushed

"That's different."

"No it's not." Severus yelled, startling Maia. "It is exactly the same thing. We all love you, and we would give anything to keep you safe, to keep each other safe. We don't get to choose. We just accept and protect each other."

Maia huffed. "Why are you always right?" She whined, her bottom lip pouting slightly.

"Come home." He pleaded, looking rather defeated.

"Okay." She breathed, surprising him immensely. Perhaps there was getting through to her, even if it was only in as small a battle as this. He knew convincing her to let them fight with her would be a harder challenge, though he would have Euphemia to help guilt her into accepting their help.

But it was the small victories that kept them hopeful, especially when that victory was against Maia.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Things had been odd since Maia went back with Severus, like they were all dancing on eggshells around her and Regulus, though at least they didn't know why the egg shells were necessary for Regulus. Maia had successfully avoided all contact with him though she suspected that he was doing the same. As much as she wanted to clear the air about rushing out, she knew she couldn't tell him she felt the same way, and that would probably hurt him the most.

Euphemia had been the most reasonable about the situation, not bothering to treat her like she was going to break.

"I'm sure you see it all from his perspective." She smiled, after having a long conversation about how Maia managed to apparate out of the house with the wards up.

"I do." Maia frowned. "I completely understand what he must have thought when I left and if I'm honest I'm not sure that he's entirely wrong. Just wrong about how much of it was my lack of being in love with him and how much was my making sure that he stays alive after all the work i've done to make sure he saw his eighteenth birthday."

"Why not simply tell him that?" Euphemia asked, glancing slyly at the girl chopping vegetables next to her. She had managed to convince the house elves that letting she and Maia help with dinner would to the girl some good.

"He's been avoiding me as much as I've been avoiding him." Maia sighed. "Probably more."

"It won't get better if you keep dancing around each other." The older woman smiled, placing her knife down so that she could give Maia her full attention. "Whether you love him or not, whether he loves you or not, whether you were protecting him or not, these things need to be talked about it so that neither of you begin to make things bigger than they already are."

"I suppose." Maia muttered, keeping her attention on thinly slicing the onions on her own chopping board. "I just don't want to hurt him any more than he already is."

"Believe me dear, the silence is hurting him more."

And with that, no one spoke to Maia about Regulus, as if hearing his name would send her running again. She understood that she couldn't stop them from fighting with her, no matter how much she didn't want them to, and she was beginning to get tired of their need to mother her.

"I'm going to talk to him so you can all stop acting like I'm about to burst into flames." Maia announced, leaving the group as they silently watched over her in the library.

She padded her way up the stairs toward the room she knew belonged to Regulus. She could hear him talking with Severus about her, thanks to the door that was already cracked open.

"She's not horrified by you Regulus." Severus tried to soothe, sounding like he'd had the argument a thousand times. "She's just scared to talk to you because she doesn't want to hurt you any more."

She took that as her opportunity to walk in before Regulus would say anything to make her feel guiltier.

"Hey Reg." She smiled softly, somehow the days separated and the rather odd exchange they'd had in her room gone. Though she was certain he didn't feel the same way. Just looking at the pair sat on the edge of his bed, the same way they would sit when she was trying to sleep, it seemed to flood back all of those touching moments with the pair, even if she knew that Regulus' concern wasn't just for a friend.

"Maia." He coughed awkwardly, too startled to notice Severus roll his eyes at him.

"Can I have a moment with him?" She asked Severus, who had simply eyed her curiously as she walked in. He left with a polite nod, leaving the pair in an awkward silence. "Things seem different to you now don't they?" She asked, moving to sit on the bed next to him.

"Yeah, they do." He nodded, avoiding her gaze.

"They don't have to be you know." She smiled, knowing how impossible it would sound. "I hate to break it to you but I have it on good authority that I can be a terrible girlfriend, plus I'm still in love with a dead man so maybe I'm crazy too."

They both laughed slightly, some of the tension in the air dropping away.

"I can't just forget I ever felt anything for you." He frowned, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.

"Severus used to be in love with Lily." Maia began, hoping that her example wouldn't be too close to home for the group. "But after joining our little band of adventurers, that changed for him. He knows he can't love her any more, though mostly because she and James are starting to hit it off. But even in years of friendship, even when he finally told her and she turned him down, they were still friends afterward. And I hate to compare us to them because I know our bond is different and special, but I also know that it doesn't have to go away."

Regulus didn't say anything, instead pulling Maia into a tight hug, one that she hoped meant that they were on their way to being friends again. "I really don't want to lose you Maia." He whispered.

"You won't." She smiled. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Things started to get better after that, the residents of Potter manor sensing that there was nothing to worry about between Maia and Regulus, which meant that all they had to worry about was the next scheduled Order meeting. Maia didn't know what happened with Moody after she left, mostly because she hadn't asked. She didn't particularly care about what happened to the man, just what he did with the information he stole. In her time, he would have never even tried to get the information out of her, and even if he had he would have taken it with him to the grave, but it appeared the man in this time had a lot of very important lessons to learn, meaning that he was definitely not on Maia's 'people I trust' list.

Despite things still being slightly off with Regulus, though they both elected to ignore it and continue on as best friends, he had admitted to punching the man before chasing after her, something she felt rather proud of. He wouldn't take kindly to one teenager landing a blow on him, let alone another resorting to muggle violence as he would have put it. The information seemed to repair them some more, though they still had a long way to go.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"It's been too long." Maia smiled sadly, taking in the sight in front of her. Her willow, calm and strong as ever, its branches swaying lightly in the wind.

Yes it has. He replied, that soothing voice providing more comfort to Maia than she had thought was possible. But we both know that it's unavoidable. You're not a student any more.

"That doesn't mean that I have to stop coming." She smiled, placing a hand on his bark, tracing her fingers along some of the cracks.

That may be true. He conceded. But you've been busy. Defeating a near immortal wizard seems to have its challenges.

"It's been too easy this time." She frowned, remembering the months she had spent on the run. "There have been challenges and barriers and a lot of risk, but it feels like things are going too well."

You need to accept what Harry didn't, what he refused to accept. You need help. You can't do everything on your own, and you don't have to. The people with you may have a sense of loyalty toward you, but they're fighting for themselves too. You at least have accepted that people aren't risking their lives for you, but you can't stop suffering or pain. You can only move forward and learn to live with the choices you have made, and accept the choices other people make.

"You're very wise." Maia smiled, resting her forehead against the trunk. "A lot wiser that I am."

You'll find that in a lot of people. The willow whispered back. I'm just a better example.

Maia soon found herself wrestling with those very thoughts, about whether she could stop anything bad from ever happening to her little circle of confidants, and the question of whether she should. She'd already decided to take a step back from the order, letting them work as a sort of decoy for her.

There were a few people who she would meet with outside of the order meetings, who would speak for her, who would support her even if the rest of the order wouldn't. Among that number were Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Molly Weasley's brothers, two people who could rival the Fred and George she knew, and they weren't even twins. They mostly would tell her about Moody and his insistence that she shouldn't be involved in the war, especially when she barely looked sixteen, which he found especially misleading and therefore made her untrustworthy. She didn't pay that much mind, after all, if Moody decided he wanted to actually think over the prophecy she was certain he had found in her memories then he would know that they wouldn't be able to end the war without her, as hard as they might try.

And she'd been dreaming about the prophecy a lot. Thinking back to the prophecy about Harry as often as she thought on her own. There was part of her that still wished that she could easily dismiss everything even slightly related to divination as unfounded and clearly wrong, but she hadn't had much luck yet believing that. She'd toss and turn, her nightmares mixing in with the ominous words she heard McGonagall speak, the prophecy turning her nightmares into a strange, vivid reality in her mind, one she couldn't escape even when she was awake. Severus had been a help with her nightmares, not wavering in his adamance that he would be her rock, even when she questioned him about it. He'd just shrugged and dismissed her confusion about his steadfastness, climbed under the sheets of their shared bed and wrapped his arms around her. They'd come a long way from separate sheets.

For one, Regulus had stopped sleeping next to her, the pair remaining friends with a more firm boundary between the two, moving Severus into his former place as who was most likely her best friend. It didn't surprise her, but it did sadden her.

"Quit thinking Maia." Severus grumbled one night, pulling Maia slightly closer to his chest. "It's keeping me up."

Maia rolled her eyes, snuggling into Severus, something she determined to never say out loud. "It's taking too long. We could finish him in one night but… we just don't."

"The prophecy?" Severus asked, knowing he was right, she'd been mumbling the words for weeks.

"It's stupid right? Basing my every move off of something someone could have made up." Maia grumbled, sitting up.

"Not really." Severus shrugged, looking up at Maia who had turned and sat on her knees.

"I just can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something. Something devastatingly important about the whole affair and whenever I get close to the answer it slips out of my fingers." A deep frown was set on her features, her hands planted firmly on the mattress, fingers gathering the sheets into her fists.

Severus sat up, taking one of Maia's wrists in one hand, opening her hand with the other. "What do you see here?"

Maia rolled her eyes, but after a rather pointed look from Severus, she huffed and answered. "A hand." She humored, wondering what on earth his point was.

"Yes, a hand." He spoke sarcastically. "And one of the things a hand can't do is grasp onto a thought. It can't. That's what your brain is for."

"I didn't mean it literally." She interrupted, mumbling grumpily.

"And I'm well aware of that." He frowned. "What your hand can do, is pick up a book or a wand. And I'm not suggesting you do either of those things. Your hand can't walk for your feet, though knowing you, you'd prove me wrong."

"Severus, why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because you are the brain in our little circle." Severus spoke. "Although I like to think I fit that analogy better." He grinned. "You can't spend your life trying to walk with your hands."

Maia smiled, shaking her head with a slight exhale. "You are ridiculous sometimes."

"But I'm also right." Severus retorted, letting go of her hand. "Now are you going to sleep?"

Maia sighed. "There's no point." She glanced out of the small gap in the curtains at the already risen sun. "It's morning." She crawled off of the bed, gathering some clothes from her bag, having still not found the courage to unpack.

"I'll get the caffeine." Severus sighed, throwing off the sheets. "You should have a proper shower, just to turn your brain off for a few minutes."

The rest of the day saw Maia in a deep thoughtfulness, with a coffee mug or teacup hovering at her lip the entire day. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, even after a whole day of silent contemplation, but she knew she'd have her answer soon.

And she had an answer of sorts that night, after finally being able to fall into a far less fitful sleep.

"Did the prophecy not clear up the path you have to take?" A cool voice spoke, bleeding through the blackness in her mind.

"I don't find riddles particularly clear." She spoke back dryly. "Who are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough." The voice replied. "All you have left to do is act. And all I have left to do is choose." The voice disappeared, the coldness leaving with it.

"Who are you?" Maia yelled, panic beginning to rise. "What choice?" She begged. "What choice?"

She blinked awake, taking shaky breaths as Severus' hands stopped shaking her. He looked worried, though she wasn't sure why. As far as she was aware she hadn't been having a nightmare.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You were yelling?"

"I wasn't having a nightmare. I was talking to… someone." She spoke, her voice slightly tired.

"And you were yelling at that someone." Severus spoke, laying back down.

"Sorry." She frowned, leaving the bed. "Go back to sleep, I'll be fine."

"At least put some clothes on before you give the boys a heart attack." Severus grumbled, easily slipping back off to sleep.

Maia smiled, pulling on Draco's old quidditch shirt, knowing that the only occupants of the house that would go looking for her in the middle of the night wouldn't ask questions about it

It took a toll on Maia, who wandered Potter Manor late that night. The recurring visitor she had never seemed to make sense, or answer her questions. She'd heard the voice before but she couldn't remember when, or if the voice had a name or a face. She'd had nightmares before, she was used to them, but they were always about faces, people, she knew. Bellatrix had been one of those people, Draco had been another, especially after retrieving the locket. Harry and Ron's faces had changed in her memory, as had her parents', her classmates' and she knew she wouldn't get them back. Draco was starting to fade and she was desperately trying to hold on to him. She wasn't to confident his face would stay though, given her track record. But she held onto him anyway.

The words in her nightmares bothered her too. He had a choice to make. She would have chalked it up to the prophecy bothering her but she'd already seen the nightmares that manifested, and a voice wasn't it. She wondered if Death had been the one speaking to her. There was a semblance of sense in the idea. Death had to show mercy for her to win, but he wasn't known to be a merciful man, the Tale of the Three Brothers proved that.

So she was doomed to fail.

She'd never liked divination, or anything to do with telling the future, but perhaps there was some merit in true prophecies. She wasn't an expert, but the prophecies she knew of were never certain, just telling that something had to occur, and she wasn't happy that it was always someone dying. It didn't exactly bode well.

But it was one night, when she'd dreamed about falling from the astronomy tower, something she had never remembered, that things began to piece themselves together.

"Turn back Hermione." The voice had said. "You can't leave yet."

And again in the cave. "You're making my job harder than it needs to be."

It had been the same voice that spoke to her. It seemed in some odd way Death was keeping her alive until she had to face Riddle. So he could claim her then.

She gathered everyone together, knowing they wouldn't like what they'd hear.

"Only through Death's mercy can the world truly be free and by Death's hard touch will the world endure shadow." Maia recited, taking a deep breath. "Death isn't a merciful person. He tricked two of the three brothers in the story, and he'd meant to do the same to the third."

"You think you have to die?" Lily frowned, clutching James' hand. "After everything we've done to win."

"Yes I do." Maia said. "Death had spoken to me before. He said 'I can't leave yet.' He's waiting for me to face Riddle, so that the prophecy can be fulfilled."

"I won't accept that." Regulus said, his expression blank. "You can if you want but I won't. People have already died fighting against Riddle and that's not going to waste. And you won't be one of them."

"None of us are going to let that happen." Severus nodded, placing a hand on Maia's shoulder. "And we're not going to let him win."

Maia faked a smile and continued on throughout the day pretending that they'd convinced her. She knew better. She knew she'd meet her end and there was nothing they could do about it.

AN- Sorry that this chapter took so long to write. I wanted it to be longer but wanted some of what she learnt this chapter to take longer but I gave in and wrote it anyway.

I'd love to know what you think, especially if you expected that little twist I put in.

Thank you so much for reading.

Amyx


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Maia wasn't sure if she was ready for the war to end. It wasn't because she enjoyed seeing the people she loved in danger but it was because she wasn't ready to die. She could claim that it was because she didn't want Draco's memory to fade with her, but that wasn't true. Severus and Regulus could remember him for her. And he'd be born in a few short years. She was scared to die because she was human, and that's what people are scared of. There are exceptions but Maia was not one of them. She had stopped having nightmares because she stopped sleeping. And she'd stopped sleeping because she was terrified. She knew she had to let go of her selfish reasons and at least take the horcruxes out of the equation with her but that didn't stop the worrying. Severus had tried to reassure her about her fears but it didn't help them go away, and it didn't help her sleep.

"The Order is getting ready to attack Riddle, they think they can take him out once and for all but from what McGonagall had been saying it won't be as simple as that." Fabian dutifully reported to her. "She said you had to be the one to fight him, she even told them about the prophecy but Moody wasn't having any of it. He said that there was no way you would be able to kill him if he couldn't. Some of the others are entertaining the idea but he's pretty firmly against your involvement."

"I can understand why." Maia said. "But he's wrong. Whether or not he likes it I have to be there when you try to kill him. More people will get hurt if they think oftherwise."

"You could always come to the meeting next week." Gideon said, a light smile on his lips. "I'm sure they'll see things differently if you're the one telling them."

"Though maybe not Moody." Fabian winked at her, pouring himself a second glass of firewhiskey from the bottle they were sharing. It had become a routine for them to enjoy a glass or two of the liquor after the Order meeting had ended and the rest of the house knew to give them privacy, though mostly because they didn't want to deal with a tipsy Prewett.

"I'll think about it." Maia said, taking a sip of her own drink.

"Anything updates on your end?" Fabian asked, settling back into the couch.

"No." Maia frowned. "The objects are still intact though I hope that will change soon. The others are still walking on eggshells around me and I still don't like firewhiskey."

"You're not supposed to like it." Gideon said, finishing his own glass. "You're supposed to drink it."

"I don't suppose you're going to tell us what these mysterious objects are." Fabian said, leaning on the arm of the couch to face Maia better.

"Nope." Maia smiled.

The following week moved rather monotonously, though the marauders seemed to be putting even more time into duelling than before. Lily joined in sometimes, as did Regulus, but Maia and Severus steered clear of them, instead hiding away to work on casting fiendfyre, something Maia still couldn't do. With her minimal practice they knew she had a long way to go before she could adequately destroy a horcrux.

"It's going to take too long for me to learn." Maia finally gave up, still unable to hold the spell for more than a few seconds.

"We can always wait a little longer." Severus said, placing his wand in its holster. "The war doesn't have to end tomorrow."

"You know the order's timetable, I've only got two more weeks and that won't be long enough." Maia said, rolling her wand between her fingers. "We're going to need someone else who can help you."

"The only person we know can help us is dead." Severus reminded her. "And you don't trust anyone else."

"Then I guess I'm going to have to." Maia sighed, leaving the now emptied drawing room.

Maia sent a letter to McGonagall that day, explaining what she'd need from the order before the battle. She wasn't sure if she could trust all of them, after all none of the Marauders had suspected Peter, but she had to. She had to do what Dumbledore had been unwilling to do, what he'd taught Harry not to do. She had to trust people.

The days until the meeting were spent explaining to her cohorts the revised plan. They were all becoming withdrawn and irritated, though they were better off than she had been on the run. They didn't need to keep the horcruxes on their person at all times, they could hide them when they needed a break. She hadn't had such a luxury. Even when they weren't wearing the locker they would feel it affecting them. They'd all reacted differently, though not unexpectedly. Sirius and James had been adamant that it was a bad idea, Remus had been less verbal, but still very much disliked the idea. Lily had become a nervous wreck, terrified of what would happen if they trusted the wrong person. Regulus seemed not to care, though his demeanour had been the same since she came back. He felt unimportant and as if he had been left on the sidelines, which wasn't entirely untrue. She and Severus had been formulating most of their ideas in the middle of the night, something Regulus used to be privy to. Something g he didn't do anymore. It was always going to be hard on him, especially with a horcrux almost permanently at his side. But she could only be glad that he wasn't acting like Ron. He wasn't going to give up on them.

She of course was anxious about their new plan, she didn't know any of the order like she knew her friends, even the people she had met in her time. Mundungus Fletcher had been on her list of people to exclude from the next meeting and she had been tempted to add Moody to the list, though that would only have made the situation with him worse.

So when she entered the meeting, she was still slightly surprised to see that only the people she and McGonagall had chosen to trust were present. She'd expected one or two of them to attend anyway. It would be their second to laser meeting before the battle. She supposed that they trusted McGonagall enough not to, though it most likely helped that they didn't know she was the reason they'd been asked to attend.

"I've made it clear." Moody said, standing from the table. "She is not fighting with us."

"And yet I am." Maia said, her tone rather dangerous. "You should know that with everything that's at stake, with everything I've lost to get another chance to end Riddle, I'm not bowing out now."

"We're going to lose with you there." Moody didn't seem like he was going to back down, and the other members seemed to be worried that things were going to escalate like last time she and Moody had been in a room together.

"You're not going to win without me."

"This isn't up for negotiation." McGonagall said, her expression stern. "Dumbledore trusted her to end this and so do I."

"She managed to catch you off guard Alistar." A woman spoke. Maia didn't know who she was but decided she liked her.

"Let's get this over with." Moody grumbled, sitting back down.

"I'm going to cut to the chase." Maia said, walking to stand behind McGonagall. "We need to destroy several powerful objects before we can strike the finishing blow, and the only way we can do that is by using fiendfyre." Maia noted the suspicion and alarm the room was exhuming. "We need someone who can help Severus perform and control the spell."

"I can." A familiar voice volunteered. He was relatively young, bald, and had dark skin. "I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Maia simply nodded, assessing the little she knew of the man. He had been known as Royal during the potterwatch broadcasts, though beyond that he remained a mystery. McGonagall didn't seem to have a problem with him, so she'd have to trust her judgement.

"I'm sorry for interrupting." A woman's voice came from the doorway, a stunning blond haired woman stood, her chin held high. She had the same aura that emanated from Draco. The one that was the hallmark of a good person who simply wanted to make the right choice.

"Narcissa." Regulus inclined his head politely to his cousin.

"You've been quite the help." Maia said, hoping she could in some way vouch for the woman.

"I hope to be of more assistance." She announced, taking a few steps into the room. "Riddle knows that you're here, though he is unaware that a meeting is going on at the present moment. I believe someone is feeding him information."

"Do you know their name?" McGonagall asked.

"He sends his correspondence by owl to my husband and doesn't sign his name." She explained.

"How do you know it's a man?" Maia said, rather interested in Narcissa's information.

"His handwriting is rather careless and his choice of language is abrupt. Sentences are short and to the point, though they don't always contain relevant information." She said, a light smile on her face. "He also marks his letter with a rather interesting symbol."

Maia took the letter Narcissa was offering and choked a sob as she stared at the page, a small drawing of a rat was held in the bottom corner and the handwriting was all too familiar. "It's Pete." She whispered, handing the letter to James who had moved to stand by her side.

"But we changed things." James said, his tone defeated.

Maia don't pay attention to the rest of his words, simply closing her eyes, searching for the familiar rodent aura that had always surrounded Peter. She could feel him, though he seemed faint, far away. She followed the feeling, following it back to Severus' room. A room he didn't use anymore. He was asleep, curled up in a corner under an empty wardrobe.

Maia sobbed as she picked him up, cradling the rat close to her chest. She cried as she held him, waking the now startled rat. He didn't struggle, simply tapping his nose on her palm in lieu of an apology. "I wish you hadn't Peter." She sobbed, clutching him tightly to her. "I think I understand why. He has your mother doesn't he?"

The rat squeaked, its demeanour saddening.

"I forgive you." She whispered. "I don't care what he knows now. I don't care what you've done for him. I forgive you." She petted him with her index finger, attempting to calm him. "We can save her you know. Even if you don't want to help us. I'll save her."

The rat gave a melancholy squeak, curling into her.

"We'll fix this Pete." She promised. "I'll fix it."

AN- I hated doing that with Peter. I cried, and I hope that I can write a small redemption for him to fix it, though I suppose I could have not written it but this was in my plan from the beginning, to give Peter a better reason to have betrayed his friends.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as always.

Amyx


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"He betrayed us Maia, no matter what excuse you think he has." Sirius said, a deep frown on his face.

"He's keeping his mother alive." Maia said, unable to understand the boy's reluctance to forgive. "You'd do the same for Euphemia."

"It's not the same." James added, he was rather hurt by the whole ordeal. "We'd go and save her, we'd trust our friends."

"And our dancing around him at the end of sixth year doesn't have anything to do with it." Maia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't want to involve him. I didn't want to risk forcing him down this path and that's exactly what I did."

"You're not alone in that Maia." Remus said, apparently being the only one of the marauders on her side. "We all agreed to try to save him this time around."

"He's been reporting to Riddle. How can we forgive that?" Sirius asked.

"Because he came home." Lily smiled sadly, glancing around the angry faces in the room. "We could have been anywhere, especially after we up and left Hogwarts. He went to the only other place he'd ever called home."

"I've never been an advocate for Pettigrew but we could use him." Severus suggested, his face oddly blank. "We could plan an ambush for Riddle and Pettigrew would be in the perfect position to feed him the location."

"We can't trust him." James spoke, his arms crossed and his expression stoic. "I won't trust him."

"You don't have to." Maia sighed and made to leave the room, only to be stopped by Sirius.

"You're not placing our lives in his hands." He growled. "Especially not yours, you're too important to the Order."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again." Maia glared up at Sirius. "This isn't a democracy."

"Maybe it should be." Regulus' spoke, his voice small.

"If you had your way Reg, I'd be locked away where no one could so much as breathe the wrong way near me." Maia spun, almost immediately regretting opening her mouth. Almost. "The only reason any of you are here and not tucked up in Hogwarts, attending school like everyone else your age, is because I let you. I could have obliviated Regulus, I could have let Dumbledore obliviate Remus. I didn't tell you my secret because you needed to know, but because I decided that you could. And the reason Peter isn't here with us, is because I made that decision. The reason Dumbledore is dead, is because I wasn't watching him closely enough. I could have gone Horcrux hunting on my own, I did it before and despite what you all believe I could have done it again, easily. I don't need any of you to be here."

"Maia." Severus spoke, his eyes wary.

"You're here because I want you to be, because there's something in the back of my mind telling me that I shouldn't have to be alone, that I can have you all with me." Maia shoved Sirius aside, placing her hand on the door handle. "You can all act hurt, and lick your wounds, but the only person you're hurting by hating Pete is yourself. We did this to him. Not Riddle. Us. We don't need him on our side but I want him here." Maia tried to hold back the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "No matter what he's done, he will always be the shy kid that was terrified I wasn't his friend. His animagus isn't a rat because he's untrustworthy. In the chinese zodiac, the rat is quick-witted and smart and kind. He isn't a rat because he's weak or evil, he's a rat because he's kind."

She walked from the room, leaving the occupants to glance at each other guiltily. They were angry at Pete, they were angry at Maia, and she'd left them with a lump in their throat, and a lot of things they needed to question.

"I wish I could hate her for saying that." Regulus sighed, looking up at Severus, who's hand was on his shoulder.

"Don't we all." James commented, turning to Sirius.

Maia stepped back into the meeting, where they were interrogating Narcissa, something she wasn't to happy about. The blonde woman was holding her own against the accumulated Aurors.

"Finally decided to join us?" Moody asked, glaring at Maia.

"I had some people to deal with." She spotted the scared looking rat, trapped in a cage on the dining table. He was shaking, curled tightly into himself. Maia's heart squeezed when she saw him. She supposed this was what a mother felt when their child was hurt, and in suck a small defenseless form, Peter looked like a terrified child.

"What are we doing about Mr Pettigrew?" Minerva asked, her eyes fixed on Peter.

"Nothing." Maia shrugged, opening the cage door, to hold him against her chest. Peter seemed to stop shaking when she held him, though he was still tense. She began stroking him, smiling as the rat began to stretch along her forearm and drift off to sleep. "I also know that you won't need to take any action with Mrs Malfoy either, she's the only reason we're this close to defeating Riddle."

"As I said in my letter, I don't have a reason to be loyal to Riddle, though I don't have a reason to be loyal to any of you." She announced, standing from her chair. "I will be leaving for France tonight and will be remaining there for the foreseeable future. You're welcome to send a letter if you manage to capture my husband, I'm sure he'll try to claim he was under the imperius curse."

"Allow me to walk you out." Maia volunteered, ignoring the sneer from Moody. "We'll have to regroup tomorrow, there'll need to be a change of plans." She offered Narcissa her elbow with a warm smile, and was rather surprised to see her take it. Maia was a so called 'half breed' after all.

"Thank you." Narcissa smiled.

Maia closed the door behind them and when they were out of earshot of the order, she turned to Narcissa, a rather serious expression on her face. "You said that if you had a son, you'd want him to chose his own path." She took a deep breath, hoping not to be asked a slew of questions. "I can say with a great deal of confidence, the son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy would have chosen his own path. He wouldn't have been able to do it on his own, but with help, he would have found the courage to follow his heart."

"Can I assume you won't be telling me about how you know that?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow, though she didn't have any inquisitiveness in her eyes, she simply looked amused.

"If I'm still here when this is all over, I'll be happy to tell you everything." Maia couldn't stop the solitary tear that ran down her face. With Narcissa going to France, leaving her husband behind, there would never be a Draco Malfoy.

"I think I already know enough." Narcissa smiled, wiping the tear from Maia's cheek. "I've heard the prophecy my dear, and I like to think I'm not as obtuse as the Dark Lord. When this is over, I'd like you to tell me everything about him, even the parts he'd find embarrassing, even if it takes years to tell it all. I know what walking away from my husband means for the boy you're talking about, and despite that I want to know him, and if you'd let me, I'd like to remember him."

"I think he'd insist upon that." Maia smiled, another tear falling down her face.

"For now, just knowing you'd mourn him, tells me everything a mother wishes for a son was given to him." Narcissa smiled, patting Maia's hand. "I do have one question, if you'll answer it."

"Of course." Maia nodded, noting that they'd made it to the apparation point.

"Did I get to name him Draco?" She asked, her eyes wetting also. "Lucius always said naming a child after a constellation was never a good idea, that it would force them to live up to a greatness they could never attain. I believe the opposite. Naming a son Draco, naming him after the stars, it would mean that no matter what people believed of him, what he believed of himself, he shared more than a name with the stars, he shared their light, and that there is one person in the world that thought him worthy of a place in those stars, and that he'd be the brightest one of all."

Maia knew tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't care. All she could do was hug Narcissa tightly and cry. "He was far brighter than a star, he was a sun."

 **AN- So I haven't updated in a while… I have the ending written for this story and I even have a sequel planned out and I hadn't written this chapter yet. I have the three last chapters typed up and yet, I forgot that I had to write something to lead into them. I'm an idiot.**

 **But I would like to know what you think of the story and this chapter in particular.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Amyx**


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The plan had changed drastically, there wouldn't be any more subterfuge, nor an all out war over the ministry. They chose to do battle in a field, mostly because they wanted to minimise the civilian casualties. Maia had laughed when she heard Moody talking about keeping untrained people out of the crossfire. That hadn't been a concern during her time, neither Dumbledore nor Riddle had kept children out of their war, Maia was proof of that. The down side to the field, was that there would be no cover, so their casualties would probably be high. A direct challenge to Tom Riddle, hopefully received in front of his Death Eaters would force him to accept, especially when Maia was the one issuing it. Then there was the matter of the horcruxes, they would destroy them at the same moment she would send her message, Maia was sure he would feel them being destroyed, so it would hopefully add to the challenge, knowing that she'd found and destroyed the fragments of his soul.

Severus didn't like it, Regulus didn't like it, nor did Lily or James, or any of her friends. The Order however, had nothing bad to say about the plan, because it was the only one they had, and there was little time to come up with another one. As the battle loomed closer, everyone became rather nostalgic. Fabian and Gideon had sat with Maia and a bottle of firewhiskey and they spent an entire night telling stories of how the pair had terrorised the school and how they had continued doing the same while training to be Aurors. Regulus had bumped into Maia early one morning, wrapped his arms around her in the tightest hug he could muster and hurried off to avoid her. James proposed to Lily, though he'd asked her one night when they were simply walking around the manor grounds one night. He didn't have a ring at the time, he just asked and she accepted. His mother had taken Lily aside when she found out and Lily soon had a ring adorning her finger. Severus had been surprisingly okay with it, he'd smiled, hugged Lily and spun her in a circle as they laughed together. He even shook James' hand and told him not to hurt her. Sirius and Remus had taken some time alone, for what nobody was sure, but they spent a few days locked away in Sirius' room and refused to tell anyone what happened when they finally emerged. Perhaps the most momentous event had been on the full moon, the first full moon in months that Peter had been present for, tangled up in James' antlers.

Ast for Maia, she was content to watch what was transpiring around her. She had no one to declare her undying love for, no one to forgive, no one to pass on a final piece of advice to. But one night, when she was sat by a river that cut through the estate, Remus had gone out to find her. She'd been expecting to feel anxious or scared, but the calm that filled her left her confused. She knew she was going to die, that she would never see another sunset, and that knowledge had plagued her for weeks, and yet, the day before she was going to battle Riddle, she was calm.

"You're missing the fun." Remus had remarked sarcastically, taking a seat next to her.

"I'm not really in the mood to share campfire stories with the boys tonight." Maia smiled weakly, content with observing the moon's broken reflection in the water. "Last time I fought them, there wasn't a calm before the storm, there were no last words or final goodbyes. It just happened. And I don't think I want those things."

"Well I have some last words for you." Remus spoke, taking Maia's hand. "And you're not going to like them."

Maia knew what he was going to say, she'd had a suspicion of Remus' feelings toward her for months now, and when you had time to think, you thought about everything.

"I know you hate hearing people say this, but I love you Maia." Remus didn't give her time to respond, he just kept talking, cutting off the start of what would likely be a protest. "I'm not in love with you, but I do love you. I think if you'd been in any place to let someone in, I would have asked if I could be that person. But as the months went by, my feelings settled and I learned that loving someone is different from being in love with them. I was in love with someone for years and never realised it had that name, not until I met you."

"And I'm sure you enjoyed spending time showing that person just how in love you are." Maia smiled, resting a head on Remus' shoulder.

"The point I'm trying to make is that I wasn't the first person to love you, and neither was Regulus." He spoke, his tone becoming oddly serious. "And we won't be the last people to love you. But the people with you, that love you, we're here now and no matter how much you don't want us to, we'll fight for you and if you asked, we'd die for you."

"You're not allowed to die for me." Maia frowned.

"We'll do our best not to, but we can't promise that we won't die and we won't promise not to, no matter how much you don't want Severus to." Remus spoke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maia asked, sitting up straight.

"You care about all of us, but you don't love all of us." Remus chuckled. "You love the whomping willow, and you love Severus, whether you realise it or not. And I'm not saying that it's a romantic love, but he's the only one of us you love. You like us all and you care about us all, but you love Severus, you're closer than James and Sirius, and that pair have loved each other like brothers for years now. So you're going to stop moping out here and you're going to sit next to your brother and you're going to have a glass of firewhiskey. And most importantly, you're going to let all of us tell you that we love you, and you're going to let us cry at the thought of losing you, and then you're going to sleep."

"Does Sirius know you're this controlling?" Maia rolled her eyes, letting Remus pull her onto her feet.

"He most certainly does." Remus laughed.

When they walked into the drawing room, everyone stopped talking and turned to look at Maia. Remus immediately took a seat, but Maia stood in the doorway awkwardly. She'd barely spoken to them after the Peter argument, and here they all were, not yelling or swearing at her, simply staring. Though there was one person missing.

"James went to get Peter." Lily informed her.

Severus rolled his eyes and grabbed Maia's hand, forcing her to join him on the rug. They had all abandoned the chairs in the room and had opted for a heap of pillows that were gathered around a glass jar that contained a dancing blue flame. A glass was pressed into her hand as Peter was dragged into the room by James and forced to sit. Maia couldn't resist laughing as he pouted, though Remus didn't seem to notice as he threw an arm around Peter's shoulders, smiling warmly at the boy.

"We should all be at school." Peter commented, warily eying the gathering before him.

"I can't disagree more." Sirius spoke, taking a long drink from his glass. "The only one of us that ever liked school was Moony, we always talked about what we would do in the world outside of homework and trips to Hogsmeade."

"I think you'll find you're in the minority there Sirius." Lily grinned, taking James' hand as he sat and kissed her cheek. "You're the only one of us here who hated school."

"That can't be true." Sirius protested, glancing around the group. "Prongs, tell me it isn't true."

"Sorry mate, I quite enjoyed school." James smiled.

Sirius pouted, resting his head on Remus' shoulder. "I've been betrayed. Seven years of friendship and it turns out he liked school."

Remus chuckled and kissed the top of Sirius' head.

"Finally." Peter yelled suddenly, jumping up to dance around in a circle. "Years of a horridly defiled common room and you finally admitted it."

"That we did." Remus grinned to Peter.

"And I finally said yes to James." Lily smiled fondly at Peter, watching as James pulled him to sit down. Again.

"Remus said something to me and it wasn't true." Maia spoke, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on the flame. "He said that I care about you all but that I don't love you, but I do love you all. You're all my family, despite the circumstances some of you came into it." She looked across her friends' faces, smiles plastered on all of them. "I don't love some of you in the way you may have wanted, but you have it." Her eyes lingered on Regulus' face, watching the boy frown at the floor. "Especially you Reg." She caught his attention. "If you hadn't pried, if you hadn't forced your way into my life, I don't think I'd have told anyone about me, and none of us would be here." She glanced back around the room, tears filling her eyes. "We changed the course of history together. People are alive because of you. And I don't mean because I came here, but because you all stayed with me."

Maia couldn't stop herself from thinking back to her war, about the goodbyes she never said, and she suddenly found herself wishing she could have had them.

"I think I speak for us all when I say, we love you too." Severus smiled, placing an arm around her. "Even if you are an insufferable know it all sometimes."

While most of the group seemed confused, Regulus, Severus and Maia broke out into fits of laughter, laughter that spread to the others.

Laughter that was cut off by a silver cat that hovered in front of Maia.

"They're attacking Hogwarts." McGonagall's voice echoed through the room, making Maia's blood run cold. "Hurry."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The battle was already well underway by the time the Order arrived at Hogwarts. Destruction had already taken hold of the ancient castle and fires were burning violently. Students and teachers were fending off death eaters with what could barely be called success. Death eaters were still moving forward, killing with a perverted nonchalance. It was devastatingly clear that there would still be a heavy death toll by the end of the war, especially with first years trapped inside the castle.

Maia didn't pay attention to the orders Moody was giving out, simply yelling "destroy them now" to Severus before sprinting head first into the fray. This wasn't her first battle, not even her first at the castle, she knew the school better than any death eaters and she knew the death eaters better than the order. She knew she should be more careful, should be more scared, but when one considered there were no giants sprinting toward you, no hordes of dementors nor acromantula feasting on the fallen, there was a lot less to fear.

She immediately aimed a slicing hex at the first death eater she encountered, severing the tendons in his wand arm before casting a rather nasty variation of the confundus charm at several others. A quick aguamenti followed by a freezing charm trapped several others, and they wouldn't be escaping it any time soon. A jet of green light streaked past Maia's head as a rather angry looking woman approached, casting so furiously and haphazardly that none of the spells hit their intended target, though several probably did hit someone. A trunner sent her careening to the ground.

Maia stormed her way through the entrance courtyard, disarming stunning and hexing every death eater she came across. Some tried to run at the sight of the green skinned girl, especially after seeing what she had done to their comrades, if death eaters could be called anything of the sort. She fought past a seemingly never ending throng of death eaters to reach the wall of teachers holding strong against the attack, allowing students to sprint past on the stairs, older students holding shield charms to stop stray spells from hitting the students. It wasn't fool proof, as there were several injured and unconscious students being carried along. The slytherin and hufflepuff students were making their way up the stairs and meeting with gryffindor and ravenclaw as they filtered into the third floor corridor. Maia ran with them, sprinting past several groups to see them gathered in the clocktower, where another group of death eaters were blocking their escape.

There weren't many, maybe seven or eight but they were more than a match for the students barricaded in the space.

"Lead the younger students up toward the hospital wing and out of the way." Maia ordered, pushing through the now mobilising students to reach the front line of defense, which was simply a group of older students aided by professor flitwick, who were using the ruined doors as cover.

"Professor." She yelled, crouched next to him. "I need a distraction."

"You can't hope to take on that many alone." Flitwick argued, ducking down next to her, though he didn't have to drop very far.

"Professor, can you think of anything." Maia asked, a frown on her face. "You haven't had much luck so far."

"Just one." Flitwick frowned. "But it's dangerous."

With a nod, Maia and Flitwick pushed themselves into a standing position as a stream of hot, angry fire billowed from the Professor's wand, a birdlike apparition swooping between the death eaters. The death eaters fell to the ground, though some weren't stunned by Maia, but their robes were on fire and their screams died quickly.

"Where were you leading them?" Maia asked, her mind going to the whomping willow, which housed a perfect escape route.

"Down the path to Hogsmeade." Flitwick replied.

"There will be more waiting in the village." She shook her head, turning to address the students. "I need you all to trust me because we are going to the whomping willow."

The students protested and she understood why. She'd barely been at this Hogwarts, and yet the battle seemed to draw out the old Maia, the Hermione Granger that hadn't been thought of for years. These students didn't know her, not like they had in her time.

"There's a secret passage there that will lead you to the shrieking shack." Maia explained, noting the hesitant looks on everyone's faces. "I can talk to the tree and it won't attack you when you go through."

"It's true." A familiar voice yelled. Remus was approaching, along with the rest of her inner circle. "We used to sneak through all the time."

"I'll lead them through." Peter volunteered. "I'm no good with spells, but I can apparate, I'll get all of them to James'. They'll be safe there."

"Alright everybody, you're going to need to follow Peter. He's going to lead you through the passage and into the shrieking shack and he's going to help you apparate away." Maia announced. "There are house elves at the place you're going, they'll help you apparate too." She glanced at James who nodded and called one of the house elves.

The students began filing out of the castle and across the bridge, Peter leading the group with a focused expression and his wand firmly in his hand. Maia pulled the map out of her beaded bag and had everyone scouring the parchment for Riddle, he had to be in the castle somewhere, and they had to find him.

"He's not here." Maia barely whispered, closing the map. She began to sprint toward the great hall, a focus driving her that she'd never felt before. She was angry, not because he had attacked the school, not because she walked past the crumpled body in pajamas and a hufflepuff scarf. She was angry because he hadn't even come. He was probably watching the castle burn from a safe distance.

Maia battled past the death eaters that had made it into the school, stopping when she reached the centre of the great hall, where the tables were cracked and pushed to the side. She cast a variation of 'sonorus', the same spell Riddle had used during her time.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, you are a coward." She spoke, watching as the death eaters froze at her words. "I, Maia Germain, challenge you to a duel to the death. We both know this won't end until one of us is dead, and the more people who die before we face each other won't make a difference. Meet me in the great hall in exactly one hour and end this. Your death eaters will be allowed to withdraw, should they remain, I will not hesitate to remove them myself."

The death eaters fled, sprinting from the castle. Maia couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face as they ran, there was a certain satisfaction that came with watching grown men and women run from you.

"Gather any injured and take them to the hospital wing." Maia spoke, her mind going to the bodies she'd seen on her way into the hall. "Take any dead and lay them in the courtyard by the clocktower."

"Are you sure that was wise?" McGonagall asked, placing a hand on Maia's shoulder. "Dueling him is one thing but provoking him is another matter entirely."

"I'm certain." Maia nodded, taking a deep, calming breath. "He won't be able to turn down my challenge, not now."

"No." A voice yelled, a scarily familiar voice. Maia looked over to the door and saw Lily staring at her arm, falling to her knees, tears streaming down her face. James had his arms around Sirius and Regulus seemed equally as broken as he knelt down beside Lily.

For the third time in her life, the world seemed to pass in slow motion as she pulled her sleeve up to look at her own arm. She just couldn't look down fast enough, and then she couldn't look away.

There amongst a ring of glowing white symbols, a full moon had turned grey.

 **AN- I didn't plan this originally, but it didn't feel right keeping all of them alive. Do I wish I hadn't? Yes. Did I have to? Yes. Does that make me cry any less? No. No it doesn't.**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

They went searching for Remus' body, and when they eventually found him, they weren't sure if they could handle the sight. He wasn't simply frozen like so many others, but slumped on the grand staircase with deep jagged claw marks ripped through his limbs and chest, and face, his body severed in two. His head was twisted un naturally to the side and an arm hung off the edge of the stairs, threatening to pull his torso off the unrailed edge and into a long fall. Sirius cried the hardest, clinging tightly to James as he wailed and sobbed and screamed. Regulus and Maia levitated his body out to the courtyard with the others and carefully laid him down to look whole, while Lily conjured vines of white blossoms across the courtyard.

Severus appeared, levitating the body of a student, no older than thirteen. She was whole, not a mark on her, but her eyes were blank, and judging Severus' expression, the green clad girl was someone he knew. Regulus looked pained too as he glanced around the courtyard. There weren't many faces that Maia recognised, something she was rather glad for. But there were a few. One of Lily's dormmates, Marlene, was laid a few feet from Remus, as was the hulking body of Hagrid, laid solitary at the far end of the courtyard.

Maia hadn't cried yet, not until she saw the girl she barely glanced at earlier as Professor Sprout tenderly laid her body down. She noticed Maia looking and briefly spoke before her voice caught in her throat. "Violet Scamander, she was a firs-"

And then she broke down, committing every face to memory she could see, every name she heard whispered or screamed. This time it was her fault that they had died. She could have lured Riddle out whenever she wanted. She was ready, not like last time. There was another option.

"We need to go." James spoke in a thick voice, placing a hand on Maia's shoulder. "The hour's almost up."

Maia managed to calm down as she walked toward the great hall, remembering that the war wasn't over. She had one last thing to do.

She held her head as high as she could when she entered the great hall, noting the remaining order members gathered together, Moody being one of them. He walked over, a frown on his face. "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't here." He grumbled to her.

"I know." Maia turned to face him, her voice oddly calm. "But I didn't kill them, Riddle did. And he'll always be responsible for that."

To anyone else, Maia would have looked determined, stood in the great hall as she waited for Tom to approach. But to Severus, she looked ready to die. The calm steadfastness wasn't confidence, but resignation, though there was a small amount of confidence to her. Confidence he would come when challenged, especially when the one person who stood in his way issued it. She was ready, ready for whatever would come next, even if it was without her.

The throng of survivors parted, making was for Riddle and his remaining followers, a cold silence hanging over them. He was indeed different to the man Maia had witnessed in the future, he had neat black hair and a rather attractive face. He looked young, younger than he should have. It was startling, seeing him so human, though Maia didn't let it show.

"You can still stop this Tom." Maia said, a calm frown on her face. "Neither of us have to die today."

"Why would I?" He laughed, his voice rich and silky. "Muggles are vermin that need to be eradicated.I know that better than anyone."

"Why?" Maia asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "They don't know we exist. They don't scream for us to be burned or drowned or executed."

"You wouldn't understand." Tom laughed. "You're a child. A half breed child who doesn't know the world. You're naive."

"Then educate me." Maia said, swiftly raising her wand at Riddle. She invaded his mind, stepping closer and closer to the now kneeling Tom as she saw the horror he had seen while in an orphanage. In that moment she understood him, better than she did herself. "I forgive you." She whispered, wrapping her arms around the dark wizard. "I understand. And I forgive you."

A cold hand grasped Maia's shoulder, pulling her away. The hand was bony, skeletal and belonged to a dark cloaked figure with a long shadowy scythe. "The choice has been made." It spoke, in the same voice that had haunted her for months.

"I think I'm ready." Maia nodded. "I'm ready to die."

"Not you." Death said, stepping toward the now shaking Tom. He said nothing more arching his scythe up and through Tom's body, it vanishing in an eerie smoke into the blade.

Maia simply stared at the space Riddle had once occupied, overcome with shock and confusion. Arms wrapped around her and voices spoke in her ear but she didn't hear them as Death stood above her.

"It's time for us to go." He spoke. "We have a lot of work to do."

"What?" Maia blinked.

"You became part of my magic and I yours when you were sent back." He explained. "There's only so long our magic can remain separate like they do here, you can't stay forever, though you could certainly try."

"I thought I'd die here, I never thought about what would happen if I lived." Maia frowned, a hand absently reaching up to stroke the back of someone's hair, she assumed it was Lily's given how long it was. "I think I owe them to help piece everything back together."

Death bowed his head and disappeared into shadow, like smoke being moved by a breeze. "I'll be waiting when you're ready."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Maia kicked off her heels, pulling the lily from the bun in the back of her hair. It had been a rather spectacular wedding, though James had gone overboard with the sheer number of lilies he had insisted be placed everywhere. She was simply glad that she'd managed to avoid being dragged into their arguments during the planning.

She'd been in France for three months, telling Narcissa Malfoy everything she knew about Draco, though she was back to being called Narcissa Black, after Lucius was found dead in the battle, burned by Professor Flitwick. It had been hard at first, trying to tell Narcissa about someone who wouldn't exist, she had barely said a word for the first few weeks, though Narcissa had held firm that she would listen, even if it took a year. It eventually became easy for her to talk about him, though she couldn't stop herself from feeling more and more in love with Draco as she spoke, though if Narcissa noticed, she never mentioned it.

She'd spent the few months after the end of the war keeping Sirius from falling apart, staying with the Potters simply so she could be close by. James had been forced away by Sirius, but Maia had held firm that she knew exactly what he was feeling and that she owed him to help him through the pain. After all, he'd done the same for her.

Regulus had taken to his brother's side as well, eventually becoming the rock Sirius needed. Maia allowed there to be some distance, especially when Euphemia fell ill. She was at the woman's side in a heartbeat, following each and every instruction the healer left, until the day Euphemia was certain she would die, so she told her about Harry, her soon to be born grandson, she let James and Sirius cry their goodbyes before ushering them away. Fleamont had fallen ill not long after Euphemia, but he'd passed days ago, his heart not as strong as his wife's. So Maia kept Euphemia's hand firmly in hers, adhering to the woman's last wish, to make sure her sons didn't see her die.

James had mourned for months before suddenly telling Lily that they needed to get married before the end of the year. He'd announced this in September. So after some rushed planning, Lily and James Potter were married on the last day of the year in the snowy grounds of Potter Manor. They'd managed to pull Professor McGonagall away from the school, along with Severus who had been teaching the moment the castle was habitable again.

After a long day of keeping Lily from bursting with anticipation and an even longer evening of dancing with her family, Maia returned home, to the cottage Remus' parents had insisted she occupy. She'd never known much about Remus' parents, but she learned that his father had died during his third year after a werewolf attack and his mother had only stayed in the house so that Remus had somewhere safe to transform. But with her son dead, she returned to Wales to be with family and insisted the house be lived in, so Maia, and Severus when he wasn't needed at the castle, had promised to keep the cottage in the best condition possible until Mrs Lupin wanted it back, which the older woman assured them she wouldn't.

Maia sunk into her sofa, pouring herself a cup of tea, tucking her feet under herself. She had been sleeping a lot less recently. With every day that passed since the end of the battle, she found herself tossing and turning, wondering if she was ready yet. Death had told her that they had work to do, but she found herself wishing for more and more time. But today, at the wedding, she felt ready. She'd told James and Lily that she would be going and endured their teary goodbye as she insisted that they have a horde of children to terrorise Hogwarts and made them promise to call their first son Harry. Regulus and Sirius had been sad to hear her goodbye, but had given her their own with a kiss on her cheek and a tight hug.

Severus, however, had sobbed the hardest, clutching her tightly as she sobbed her goodbye.

"I'm losing my sister." He pouted when she laughed at him. "I'm allowed to cry."

"I love you Sev." Maia sighed. "Goodbye brother."

She couldn't stop herself from thinking back over the years she had spent in the seventies, thinking of what the world would be like, what Harry's childhood would be like this time around. But the hardest part was that it was several minutes to 1979, the year she would be born, and she didn't want to stay while her younger self, even if that younger self was a different person, began to learn and grow.

"I'm ready." Maia spoke into the air, not at all surprised when Death stood before her.

"Hermione Granger, are you ready to go back?" Death asked, extending a bony hand to her. "Your world needs saving too."

"But I changed the timeline." Maia protested, jumping to her feet.

"This world was saved yes, but there is still a timeline out there, a universe, where Tom Riddle won the war." Death spoke. "That is where we're needed."

Maia's mind raced as a breath rattled its way from her chest. She reached out her pale green hand and placed it in death's, watching as it returned to its peachy colour, though she knew some things remained the same. The glamours she'd used on her eyes and her hair remained intact, but the blood magic, the ritual that made her a nymph, was wiped away. Even her clothing changed, an elegant black dress replaced the yellow one she had worn to the wedding and a black cloak gathered around her, a hood hanging low to obscure her face.

And so they departed, an uncomfortable tugging feeling pulling her away, the same one she remembered from those years ago.

She arrived in a cold stone corridor, gentle whispers reaching her ears as footsteps echoed from another direction. She recognised the voice and without thinking, she followed it, suddenly stopping in her tracks, her blood running cold.

"You know the prophecy. It's all over."

She remembered this day with perfect clarity, it still graced her nightmares, even as old ones faded. She didn't have long before Death Eaters would swarm the dungeon, before Draco's death. But she couldn't move. Her mind screamed to run, to do something, anything, but a strange, new part of her mind remained still and calm. It told her only one thing. She simply had to wait.

And then she was walking, flanked by a group of death eaters. Maia screamed out in her mind to stop them, but she couldn't, Death's cold voice ringing in her mind "trust me" as the calm part of her mind took control.

She saw herself locked away in a cell. She saw Draco, his wand raised, his lips finishing that all too important spell.

Maia screamed against her mind as she watched her wand arm raise, a foreign spell tumbling from her lips.

And he fell.

 **AN- I hope you all enjoyed reading Death's Mercy. Fear not, there will be a sequel and possibly a third fic after that, depending on which ending I decide on for the sequel. It's taken a long time to reach the end of this fic and I am rather glad that I managed to finish this. I hope to see you all in part two, Life's Cruelty.**

 **Amyx**


	29. Sequel Chapter 1 Uploaded

Just a notice that the first chapter of Life's Cruelty is up, the sequel to Death's Mercy.


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